MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State (4-0) continues their preseason road trip in Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 22, as the Wildcats take on Lamar (3-0) inside Vincent-Beck Stadium. Play time is scheduled for 6:00 PM CT in Beaumont. The Wildcats opened the season with the program’s first four road season-opener games with wins over Stephen F. Austin, compiling a +22 run differential with the help of a Big 12 leading 10 homeruns. The German Fajardo will start on the mountain for the second time this season and the eighth overall in his career. The Nogales, Arizona product pitched four full innings opening weekend while allowing only two earned runs. Wednesday’s game will be streamed on ESPN+ while fans can listen at kstatesports.com/watch or follow live stats provided by Lamar’s Athletic Communications Department. Tickets for the series on SFA are available now and can be purchased at sfijacks.evenue.net.
GAME #1 K-STATE (4-0, 0-0 BIG 12) AT LAMAR (3-0, 0-0 SOUTHLAND)
Friday, February 17 // 6:00 PM CT // Vincent-Beck Stadium (3,500) // Beaumont, Texas Expected Starts: German Fajardo (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. Trhea Morse Watch: ESPN+ Listen Online: kstatesports. com/watch // Mitch Fortner Live Stats | Tickets
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads to Beaumont, Texas to face Lamar in a preseason single game Wednesday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium… K-State is in its 123rd season of baseball and fifth under head coach Pete Hughes… I Wildcats are off to one of the hottest starts in school history after sweeping Stephen F. Austin in a four-game series… The sweep marked the first four-game road series opening weekend.. 4-0 start to the season is the program’s best start in the Pete Hughes era… K-State is one of two undefeated teams in the Big 12 along with #1 Texas Tech. 24 nationally… Cole Johnson became the first player to record a multi-home run game in the Big 12 by driving in a weekend-high four RBI… Junior shortstop Nick Goodwin has a four-hit streak streak, while five Wildcats reached base in all four games… Four freshmen made their collegiate debuts, including three true freshmen in Cole Wisenbaker, Mason Buss and Andrew Evans … Brendan Jones and Kaelen Culepper set each a new career record with three hits…
SCOUTING LAMAR
Lamar opened the 2023 season 3-0 with a home series over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies … LU takes on Texas A&M tonight at 5:00 p.m. in College Station … Lamar was selected to finish third overall in the Southland preseason poll behind Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese as senior infielder Josh Blankenship named Preseason Second Team All-Southland Conference … LU added 29 newcomers to 2023 roster in the offseason … Senior infielder Kirkland Banks and All-Defensive Team selection WAC Kirkland Banks is back for his final season with Lamar … The Cardinals are led by seventh-year head coach Will Davis … The LSU alum has led Lamar to a 142-151 (.485) overall record since joined the program in 2016…Lamar is hitting .196 as a team with 14 runs on 18 hits and 13 RBI…Kevin Dodge and Tanner Wilson lead the offense with .333 batting averages each producing three hits.. In the search hio, Lamar pitched 11 different pitchers opening weekend… The Cardinals have a 2.57 ERA at 11 runs (eight earned) on 20 hits limiting opponents to hit .217 … Lefty Jacob Ellis has a He was a 2.08 low for the team and earned one of three starts at the Mt… Lamar finished 37-21 overall in 2022 including a win in the Western Athletic Conference championship… Trhea Morse is the expected starter for the midweek contest… Morse earned a start against Oakland pitching 1 2/3 innings with one run earned a double.
WITHIN THE SERIES
Wednesday marks K-State and Lamar’s 10th overall meeting and first under Hughes … K-State currently holds a five-game hitting streak over the Cardinals to lead the all-time streak 6-3 with all games taking place in Beaumont … The two schools last met on April 1, 2008, where the Wildcats won 4-1… The series first started in 1967 with Lamar leading the series on a two-game hitting streak … K-State is 5-0 in their last five meetings. F, 3-0 – February 22, 1986 (Beaumont) F, 3-2 – February 23, 1986 (Beaumont) F, 6-5 – February 23, 1986 (Beaumont) F, 8-7 (10) – March 3, 2007 (Beaumont ) V, 4-1 – April 1, 2008 (Beaumont)
OPENING DAY
The Wildcats moved to 2-3 to start the season under fifth year head coach Pete Hughes after picking up a 7-6 win over Stephen F. Austin … The Cats are 5-5 in the last 10 beginning of the season and 15-9 in progress let’s go back to the year 2000.
BOMBS OUT
K-State leads the Big 12 with 10 team home runs and was the only team to produce double-digit bombs opening weekend…was…The five home runs were just short of two to match a program record seven…The Cats have produced more than 80 home runs in the past two seasons…Cole Johnson and Roberto Pena each hit a grand slam against the SFA (February 20) to mark the first time since 2010 that two Wildcats hit a grand slam in the same game… Three home runs against the SFA were two-out bombs, while five were with the Cats trailing in the count…
DIGGIN’ THE LONG BALLCole Johnson became the first Big 12 player to record a multi-home run game this season… The senior threw a pair of bombs in back-to-back at-bats in the series finale against Stephen F. Austin… He kicked out his first collegiate grand slam that brought his career total to 11… Johnson is just four home runs away from matching his season-high of seven from last season…
HOME. SWEET. HOME.
K-State finished its 2022 home schedule with a 21-7 record, marking the second straight season that the Cats reached the 20-hit home plate … It was the first time K-State strung together 20-game hitting three-in-a-row home seasons from 2009-11 … Over the past two seasons, K-State is 45-14 (.763) – good for third-best hit total and winning percentage housewives in the Big 12.. At home, the Wildcat offense hit .303 while hitting .566 with 60 home runs…K-State averaged 6.9 runs per game on 10.2 hits at the Tointon Family Stadium…The Wildcat bullpen boasted a 3.83 ERA at home, hitting out 128 on 60 walks…K-State has homered in 24 of 28 home games, while 60 of its 82 home runs are arrived at Tointon Family Stadium.
COACH HUGHES FILEPete Hughes had his 100th win with K-State February 18 against in game two against Stephen F. Austin… Hughes is in his 26th season and fifth at the helm of K-State baseball… Hughes has compiled a record career average of 754-584 -3 (.563) as head coach… His 750 career hits rank first among active Big 12 head coaches… In five seasons as head coach of the Wildcats, Hughes combined a record of 102-92 (.526)…It led the Cats to two consecutive runs in the semifinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship…In 2021, K-State went 34-23, its highest win total since he posted 45 in 2013 … Three players were selected in the 2022 MLB First-year player’s draft increased Hughes’ career draft total to 82, including eight while he was at the K-State.
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State had a +22 run season difference in four games … The Wildcats outscored their opponents 7-0 in just the fourth inning and 13-2 from the seventh inning on … The Cats are 3-0 when they hit a home run and 2-0 when multiple homers are hit … K-State has won four games when one or more errors were made …
FROM THE PEN
The Cats’ bullpen produced a 5.00 ERA after the opening weekend with SFA hitting .301…Blake Corsentino leads with two starts, while Ty Ruhl pitched a team-high five innings with a ‘Team-high 1.80 ERA…Shay Hartis and Corsentino were each awarded saves…Four pitchers were credited with one-hit during the series to Stephen F. Austin…Tyson Neighbors struck out five weekend batters … Thirteen pitchers made their season debut in Nacogdoches.
PROMISING OUTLOOK
K-State’s Nick Goodwin made D1Baseball’s Top 100 Collegiate Prospects list heading into the 2023 MLB Draft … Goodwin finished at No. Ranking of 150 outfielders … Only 10 Big 12 student-athletes were selected in the Top 100 with TCU’s Brayden Taylor leading the pack at No. sitting 185th…
PROGRAM REVIEW 2023
The Wildcats schedule 56 regular season games, highlighted by 27 games played inside Tointon Family Stadium…K-State will play in 23 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago…The Phillips 66 Big 12 The 2023 Baseball Championship will again be held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas May 24-28… The 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament begins June 2.
NEXT
K-State will compete in the 2023 Karbach Round Rock Classic February 24-26 in Round Rock, Texas… The Wildcats will take on top LSU, Sam Houston and Iowa in the three-day event.
How to follow the ‘cats: Stay up to date with K-State baseball online at www.kstatesports.com and on the team’s social channels at Chirping and Instagram.
— www.k-statesports.com —
Kansas State University, the nation’s first land-grant institution and a Carnegie Foundation Tier One university, is recognized as one of the top colleges in the nation with world-class research and academic excellence located in campus No. 1 in America (Manhattan, KS).
NEW FACES
The 2023 roster consists of 19 new faces with 10 transfers and nine freshmen… Four of the Wildcats’ 10 transfers are from four-year colleges, including three from Power 5 programs with Shay Hartis (Texas Tech), Trae Robertson (Missouri), and Jared Henry (UMass) … Combined with nine freshmen and three redshirts, 22 players on K-State’s 38-man roster have never played a game in a Wildcat uniform … Also, only seven have more than one year of experience.
MLB PROJECT
K-State has seen three players taken in the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Draft, with Dylan Phillips (8th round, Los Angeles Angels), Blake Adams (13th round, Colorado Rockies) and Dominic Johnson (13th round, Detroit Tigers) ) …Phillips was the Wildcats’ fourth Top 10 draft pick for the past four years …Dylan Phillips finished his stint in Manhattan as the program’s all-time career leader with 44, besting the Scott Poepard’s previous record of 37 which had stood since 1997.
