Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Wichita State launched six home runs in a game for the first time in 25 years and got six scoreless innings from the bullpen, knocking off Kansas State 10-4 on Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium.
The win snaps an eight-game losing streak for the Shockers in Manhattan, giving WSU their first victory at Tointon Family Stadium since the 2012 season. The six round-trippers are the most for the Shockers in one game since April 26, 1998 against Indiana State.
The Shockers (21-15) wasted little time breaking out the power bats in the top of the first. Chuck Ingram doubled on the first pitch of the game, and Brock Rodden followed with a drive to deep right that was destined for a two-run homer before Kansas State right fielder Cash Rugely leaped to make the catch above the wall. One batter later, Payton Tolle delivered the two-run homer anyway, slamming a blast down the right field line for a 2-0 lead.
After the Wildcats (24-15) halved the lead on an RBI double from Kaelen Culpepper in the bottom of the inning, Wichita State went right back to work with three home runs in the third inning. Rodden clubbed a solo shot over the scoreboard in right field, and two pitches later Garrett Pennington mashed a solo homer of his own that made it 4-1. After Mauricio Millan kept the inning alive with a two-out single, David Herring punctuated the inning with a towering opposite-field blast for a 6-1 advantage.
All six runs came against Kansas State starter Jackson Wentworth (1-4), who was tagged for eight hits in three innings of work.
Pennington ballooned the lead to 9-1 in the fourth, lining his second home run of the game over the wall in dead-center off Kansas State reliever Mason Buss.
The Wildcats answered with back-to-back home runs of their own in the home half, chasing WSU starter Matt Boyer after three-plus innings of work and a 9-4 lead. Jace Miner entered and turned in arguably the best performance of his Shocker career, retiring the first 13 Wildcats he faced over 4.1 hitless, scoreless innings. Miner (2-0) struck out one and walked one, holding Kansas State off the board into the eighth. He exited after a one-out walk, bringing on Nate Snead. A single and a walk loaded the bases with one out, but Snead recovered to strike out the next two Wildcats to strand all three runners.
Rodden produced the final score with his second home run of the game leading off the top of the ninth. Combined with Pennington's two homers, the Shockers had two multi-homer games in the same contest for the first time since Andy Dirks and Dusty Coleman accomplished the feat against Harvard on March 8, 2008.
Snead allowed the first two men to reach in the ninth, then retired three in a row to close out the win.
All nine Shocker starters recorded at least one hit. Nine of the 12 WSU hits went for extra bases.
Wichita State returns home for a battle against #7-ranked East Carolina this weekend at Eck Stadium. First pitch of game one on Friday evening is scheduled for 6:00 pm.