Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Wildcats tallied four home runs for the second straight day as K-State shut out Southeast Missouri State 10-0 in seven innings to complete a three-game series sweep Sunday at Tointon Family Stadium.
"You play one way," said head coach Pete Hughes following his team's 31st victory. "It doesn't matter if it's conference or non-conference, the goal for our team this time of year is to get as hot as possible."
Four players sent one out of the park to lead K-State (31-18) to its seventh sweep of the season while three drove in a pair of RBI. Cole Johnson went two-for-two with two RBI and two runs scored.
"We really want to see our offense get going here this weekend. We didn't see that Friday night, we saw a great game, but Saturday and today our bats got going. We have some key cards in this machine that are starting to feel good again."
Junior Nick Goodwin hit his 32nd career home run to tie fourth all-time alongside Todd Fereday (1994-97).
Mason Buss and Collin Rothermel combined for a four-hit shutout led by Buss who logged five innings and three strikeouts to move to 4-2.
"It was a really mature approach to a non-conference weekend in the middle of May and that's all I want to see from my teams."
"It all starts with good pitching and great defense. We played error free baseball this weekend and are pushing Omaha numbers."
K-State has committed a league-low 38 errors through 49 games this season for a .978 fielding percentage compared to last year's .967 with 71.
HOW IT HAPPENED
K-State scored in four straight innings to capture the 10-0 shutout victory.
The Cats first two batters quickly landed on base in the first inning after Brendan Jones was hit by a pitch and Roberto Pena was walked on four straight balls. A deep fly ball moved Jones to third before Pena's smart base running drew the attention away from third, allowing Jones to tab the first run to the board. K-State doubled its lead just three batters later with a single out to left from Cash Rugely.
Goodwin kept the Cats momentum during the second as the junior from Overland Park, Kansas roped his 11th homer of the season down the left field line.
With a 4-0 lead in the third, Cash Rugely launched his sixth homer of the year to ignite a four-run inning and help K-State take control of the series finale. Freshman Carson Queck hit an RBI double off the right center wall before coming across the plate on a wild pitch until Brendan Jones unloaded his second homer of the series to make it an 8-0 ball game.
Johnson tabbed the final two runs to the board with his ninth homer of the year after Kaelen Culpepper doubled to right field to lead off the fourth.
The Redhawks looked to jump on the board in the sixth frame but Rugely preserved the shutout after the senior right fielder robbed a potential two-run homer from Lincoln Andrews.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State scored 10 runs on 10 hits with no errors and six left on base
- Jones homered for the second straight day
- Four Wildcats homered in the victory
- Goodwin hit his 32nd career homer; ties fourth all-time
- Six players recorded a hit with four hitting multiple
- Johnson went 2-for-2 with his ninth homer of the year
- Three Wildcats drove in two RBI
- Buss was awarded the victory to move to 4-2
- Buss and Rothermel combined for the shutout with five strikeouts
- SEMO scored five runs on eight hits with two errors and three runners left on base
- Hernandez (2-2) received the loss
- SEMO sent seven pitchers to the mound
NOTES
- K-State recorded its seventh sweep of the year
- Cats finished 20-11 in the non-conference schedule of the regular season
- Third shutout game of the season
- Cats posted their 16th multi-home run game
- K-State leads the all-time series 3-1
- Rugely has reached base in 31 straight games with Day following at 29
- The Cats moved to 18-6 at home this season
ON DECK
The Cats will head to Stillwater for the final road trip of the regular season when they go head-to-head with Oklahoma State (33-14, 11-7 Big 12) on May 12-14 at O'Brate Stadium. The entire series will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available for all games at kstatesports.com/watch and the K-State Sports app.