Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
For once, Connor McCullough didn’t need to worry about his bullpen.
The redshirt freshman lasted seven innings on Saturday against the #3 team in the nation, striking out seven, and officially left the hill with a six-run lead as Kansas State pounded Texas Tech 10-4 to take the deciding game of their three-game series at Tointon.
The Cats struck quickly Saturday, getting a two-run homer from Nick Goodwin and a solo shot from Chris Ceballos to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Tech got two back in the fourth on a Dillon Carter double, but K-State responded in a big way in the fifth. Ceballos drew a bases-loaded walk, followed by a Zach Kokoska groundout which plated a run. Then Cameron Thompson jacked a pitch into right center for a three-run shot, and the BatCats had an 8-2 lead.
SLATE: Big 12 Tournament starts tonight
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Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports
The BatCats won last night, but we’re going to look back, before looking forward, before looking back.
Basketball
A year ago, K-State marshalled its forces to beat TCU in the Big 12 Tournament, ending a trying season on a high note. Tonight at 5:30, the Wildcats will try to match that feat, but without the weirdness that was the first week of cancellations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the 25th annual Phillips 66 Big Twelve Championship K-State (4-14) is listed as the 9-seed, while TCU (5-11) is the 8. The teams split the regular season series, with each team managing to win the away game by a close margin. K-State has been a team on the rise, winning three of its past four games, while TCU has lost six of its past seven. The Frogs, at 12-13 overall, have won more than K-State (8-19), but this looks like the kind of even match-up it has been recently. This is the fourth con
JT VanGilder
Kansas State has a four-game winning streak after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Western Michigan on Sunday afternoon to complete a sweep of the three-game weekend series at Tointon.
In the fourth, the BatCats manufactured a run then got one the old-fashioned way as Zach Kokoska walked, stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a Dylan Phillips sacrifice fly. A two-out double by Daniel Carinci was cashed in when Terrence Spurlin singled, and K-State had a lead they’d never relinquish.
Connor McCullough turned in his second great start of the season, lasting 5
1⁄
3 innings and giving up a lone run in the sixth before departing. C-Mac struck out six, walking only one, and two of the three hits he allowed were in the sixth inning.