2024 KSU Mens Varsity Baseball Season

[stlcatfan]

So of the so-called notable non-cons we lost to so far Tennessee is 13-1 and ranked #4, Clemson is 10-1 and ranked #10, Arizona St is 6-6, Cal is 8-3. Of the two we beat Boston college is 7-3 and Georgetown is 6-6.

I believe the only bad loss to this point is Holy Cross and hopefully it stays that way. But will really need to do something special in conference like a top 4 finish and need to win petty much all the other non cons which consists of Nebraska x2, WSU x2, Missouri St x4, South Dakota St x2, UConn, Northeastern, Omaha.

Home and home with Nebraska and WSU. 3 for 1 with Missouri St, away for both UConn and Northeastern.

Nebraska and WSU would be quality wins. Missouri St was picked 2nd in the MVC so could be considered decent wins as well. The others would likely all be bad losses if we don’t win.

With baseball, the northern schools are usually a few weeks behind the southern and West Coast schools in terms of being in ready-shape for the season so I'm not too surprised we have struggled against them. It will be interesting to see how we do against other northern and Midwestern schools.

[bhoovy]

Game one of the big12 conference season starts off at home against Cincinnati and the Cats win it 4-0. But the impressive part was the starter Frost who pitched 7 innings and threw just under 120 pitches and Wentworth, who pitched the other two combined for a no hitter.

Cincinnati had runners on 2nd and 3rd in the second inning, but they got on base by a hit batter and an error. Frost got out of that little situation and the bearcats never again threatened.

Pellitier and Day both hit homers and it gave them all they needed.

Now this is Cincinnati, one of the teams picked to finish at or near the bottom, but still very impressive pitching.

Game 2 tomorrow at 5pm.

[AlabamaLane]

Not the greatest night for hitting with 30 degree temps and the wind blowing in from left. I imagine the hitters felt it in their hands if they made contact. Wentworth struck out five of the six batters he faced.

[tmcats]

quite a welcome to the b12 for cincy, getting no-hit in mhk. great pitching to watch. first here since '91.

also watched some of texas putting 20+ on txt in lubbock. whorns were coming off a 4-game losing streak. whew!

[bhoovy]

As good as they were Friday they were about as brutal Saturday as they lose 11-7. Pitching couldn’t have been any more opposite from Friday. Hit batters, walks and fat pitches over the heart of the plate.

While they scored 7 the offense wasn’t that great. Hit into 4 DP’s. Left several runners on base. And no one at the top of the order got more than one hit.

This is a brutal loss in the fact that we’re home and Cincinnati is going to place in the bottom 3. They absolutely have to win the series tomorrow or they’re going to be chasing games all season long. Borema will get the start and hopefully he has his good stuff and the bats come to life. Just a pretty disappointing season to this point after having all the hype and being ranked. And by the way, ku beat #5 TCU for the second straight night. We need to get focused quick.

[Catalum]

Pitching leaves a lot to be desired for the Cats. Bat Cats can score, but they really struggle to shutdown anyone (other than Friday night vs Cincy).

What's the latest on Neighbors?

[bhoovy]

Sundays game, where to start? Very short version Cats win in 12 innings 14-13.

Longer version. Boerema got the start and was about as opposite of spectacular as you can be. Gave up 4 in the first with fat pitches over the plate, walks and hit batters. Fortunately we answered with 4 in the bottom. But he didn’t even get an out in the 2 and left the bases loaded. Wentworth came in and was nails striking out the side and getting out of the horrible jam. He ended up going 3.1 giving up 1 and striking out 5 before giving way to Dean, who was pretty solid Saturday but struggled today going 2.2 and allowing 4 more.

It was 11-7 going to the bottom of the 8th and the cats scratched 3 across to cut lead to 1, 11-10. Buss came in and was very solid. Had a few base runners but continued to work his way out. In the bottom of the 9th Lodice hit a HR to right that just cleared the fence to tie the game and we went to extras.

Each team held for the 10th and 11th. In the 12th Evans came in and looked sharp striking out the first two. But then he got behind the 3rd batter and walked him. He fell behind the next batter, who was probably Cincinnatis biggest power threat and I had just said you don’t want to be in a have to fast ball situation and sure enough at 3-1 he threw a belt high fast ball that was launched over center field. He did retire the next batter and the Cats came to the plate with the top of the lineup. Ingram worked a walk and Jones came up and launched a homer to center to tie the game. Then Culpepper walked and a passed ball got him to second. Day then hit a ball to the right side to move him to 3rd and the freshman English came through with the base knock to walk it off.

As far as entertaining it was extremely, but it really brought into question the Cats pitching. They have been really hammered so far this year. 6 to Cal and Georgetown, 9 to ASU, 13 and 11 to Holy Cross, 15 to Tennessee, 8 to Clemson and now 11 and 13 to Cincinnati, who was preseason last and for good reason. They had a losing record in the AAC last year in conference and overall.

Borema has not looked good his last two outings. Wintroub was not good. Ruhl is out for who knows how long. We don’t have Neighbors for how knows how long.

The top of the lineup was good today Ingram, Culpepper, Day and English all getting 3 hits. Jonas has 2 with a HR and a couple walks. Day hit a bomb that helped tie the game in the first. Lodice got the homered that put it into extras. Ingram also got a HR to give the Cats 5 on the day. But as we’ve seen against better pitching they’ve been held at bay and can’t make up for the lack of pitching.

A midweek against South Dakota and then a home weekend series with Missouri St. need to really show something good in those four games before they resume conference play in Houston.

[sfs20]

Heard we may get Ruhl and Neighbors back in a couple weeks for the Houston series

[bhoovy]

Heard we may get Ruhl and Neighbors back in a couple weeks for the Houston series

That would be very good news.

[bhoovy]

Nice win over South Dakota St Wednesday although it didn’t appear that way at the start. Guyett got the start and he gave up a lead off double, then hit a batter then a walk and then had a grand slam hit off him and he was done. He recorded no outs and let all four who faced him score. So very tough outing. But the offense answered in the bottom of the 1st starting with a lead off homer by Ingram and it was an absolute bomb. Was said to travel nearly 480’. The Cats got 3 in the first and then shutdown SDS and put up a 10 spot in the 2nd. They only allowed one more run, put up 3 more of their own for a 16-5 win. It’s what good teams should do against lesser opponents.

Now they have a weekend series against Missouri St who is a decent ball team and were picked preseason 2nd in the MVC. So need to come out ready and focused and take care of business to get a sweep, because they really need to start stacking wins now with the initial non con barely over .500.

One big question will be Boerema. He’s not been good his last two starts so what kind of stuff will he have and what will be his mindset.