2024 KSU Mens Varsity Baseball Season

[bhoovy]

I’ve said several times I’m not sure this teams baseball IQ is very good and tonight was certainly evidence to it. But even in spite of it they managed a late comeback win to beat the hawks 3-2.

Cats got on top first with a run in the 1st. Boerema was good with the exception of his one big problem this year, the long ball. He game up a solo in the third and fourth to give ku the lead 2-1. He wound up going 7 innings and striking out 8 with only one walk. You’ll take that every time out.

But the offense continued to stumble all over themselves with hitting into 4 DP’s, two of a very unconventional style. With runners on 1st and 2nd they hit a deep ball to left and the runners moved up. Only ku appealed a runner leaving early and were given the out. And it’s not who you most likely thought it would be as it was called on the runner going to 2nd. And that runner was our fastest player and the big12 base stealing leader Jones. And there was no play at 2nd. And they challenged it and it wasn’t close and was their last challenge. Then again with a runner on 1st a ball was hit to deep center field and the runner moved up but was called out for leaving early. Again, he had plenty of time. Ball wasn’t even to the infield when he got to second. Just mind boggling plays and plays that continued to take away opportunities.

Dean pitched the 8th and after walking the lead off he managed to get out of the inning unscathed. In the bottom of the inning the Cats got two quick outs. Parsons then worked a walk. Culpepper came up and blasted one to the left center field fence scoring Parsons. They walked Day and English then drove a ball up the middle to score Culpepper. Riveria came up and got his third hit of the night with an infield hit. But with bases loaded Pellitier hit an infield fly and ended the inning.

Neighbors got the call in the 9th but hadn’t been warming much and it showed. He proceeded to walk the bases loaded, throwing 7 straight balls to begin. Then he finally got it clicking and struck out the next batter. KU’s English came up and hit a bullet down the 3rd base line that Parson leaped for and snagged to give them two outs. Then he struck out KU’s best hitter on a 3-2 count that a walk would have tied it and ku screamed it was a ball. It was close but Tyler got hosed on an earlier pitch in the AB so it kind of balanced out.

Just a huge win for many reasons and one that hopefully gets the Cats jump started for the rest the weekend. As mentioned Riveria was 3-3. Culpepper was 2-4 with a huge hit in the 8th and English was also 2-4 with a huge hit.

Now it’s onto Saturday with a 4pm first pitch time and I would assume Wentworth on the bump.

Can’t say it was pretty. It was definitely frustrating. But in end it was a win and that’s all that matters. Now go get another tomorrow.

[Highway26north]

Strike 3 WAS outside but nice to see KS get the hose for a change. Might have been a bit of a makeup call.

[tmcats]

I’ve said several times I’m not sure this teams baseball IQ is very good and tonight was certainly evidence to it. But even in spite of it they managed a late comeback win to beat the hawks 3-2.

Cats got on top first with a run in the 1st. Boerema was good with the exception of his one big problem this year, the long ball. He game up a solo in the third and fourth to give ku the lead 2-1. He wound up going 7 innings and striking out 8 with only one walk. You’ll take that every time out.

But the offense continued to stumble all over themselves with hitting into 4 DP’s, two of a very unconventional style. With runners on 1st and 2nd they hit a deep ball to left and the runners moved up. Only ku appealed a runner leaving early and were given the out. And it’s not who you most likely thought it would be as it was called on the runner going to 2nd. And that runner was our fastest player and the big12 base stealing leader Jones. And there was no play at 2nd. And they challenged it and it wasn’t close and was their last challenge. Then again with a runner on 1st a ball was hit to deep center field and the runner moved up but was called out for leaving early. Again, he had plenty of time. Ball wasn’t even to the infield when he got to second. Just mind boggling plays and plays that continued to take away opportunities.

Dean pitched the 8th and after walking the lead off he managed to get out of the inning unscathed. In the bottom of the inning the Cats got two quick outs. Parsons then worked a walk. Culpepper came up and blasted one to the left center field fence scoring Parsons. They walked Day and English then drove a ball up the middle to score Culpepper. Riveria came up and got his third hit of the night with an infield hit. But with bases loaded Pellitier hit an infield fly and ended the inning.

Neighbors got the call in the 9th but hadn’t been warming much and it showed. He proceeded to walk the bases loaded, throwing 7 straight balls to begin. Then he finally got it clicking and struck out the next batter. KU’s English came up and hit a bullet down the 3rd base line that Parson leaped for and snagged to give them two outs. Then he struck out KU’s best hitter on a 3-2 count that a walk would have tied it and ku screamed it was a ball. It was close but Tyler got hosed on an earlier pitch in the AB so it kind of balanced out.

Just a huge win for many reasons and one that hopefully gets the Cats jump started for the rest the weekend. As mentioned Riveria was 3-3. Culpepper was 2-4 with a huge hit in the 8th and English was also 2-4 with a huge hit.

Now it’s onto Saturday with a 4pm first pitch time and I would assume Wentworth on the bump.

Can’t say it was pretty. It was definitely frustrating. But in end it was a win and that’s all that matters. Now go get another tomorrow.

did not watch so appreciate your recap, bh.

[WildcatEngineer]

That was one ticked off Hawker standing taking strike 3.

The 1-2 pitch called a ball was a strike. It should have ended then.

[bhoovy]

Game two, one word, P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C!!!!!

Just terrible AB’s and pitching was subpar in a 4-0 loss. Cats were out hit 13-6. Only 4 Cats got hits, Jones and Day each with two and Parsons and Bishop each getting one. No one else sniffed a hit. Lots of swings at bad pitches and poor contact on those that were good. Ingram is completely lost. He started as lead off and has continued to more down the line so that he’s currently hitting 8. I think he needs to sit. And we hit into at least 2 more DP’s. And the low IQ reared it’s ugly head again, as yesterday they had bad base running and then compounded with bad challenges. Today we beat out a throw and was actually safe at first but was called out. But Hughes didn’t challenge. Hughes decisions to challenge or not are maddening.

Wentworth started and went 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. Struck out 7 and walked 3 and hit a batter. Had lots of base runners on. Wisenbaker threw 2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. Struck out 3 and hit a batter. Slack threw the last two innings and gave up 2 hits. You can’t really say the pitching cost us this game when the offense did zilch.

This team has now been shutout in 2 of their last 3 games. In 3 of their last 7. And in 4 of their last 13. That’s just ridiculous. Too much potential to be shutout, especially that often. They are definitely trending in the wrong direction.

The ksu crew doing the game was saying how the Cats are in good shape for post season consideration, but you still got to win games. The selection Sunday isn’t tomorrow. I don’t know who they’ll have pitch tomorrow, but no one who fans will have much confidence in. And whoever it is will know they have an offense that’s giving no support. They needed todays game to clinch the series. Now I think it’s very likely they’ll lose the series and continue to spiral down. And next weekend is in Morgantown, where historically we’ve been bad, I believe were swept the last time we traveled there, but we’ve just been bad on the road this year period.

Just very disappointed with where this team is at right now. Lots of potential, promise and expectations heading into the season that is quickly fading away.

Tomorrow is at 1pm and it’s supposed to be another sellout crowd, but it’s just sad their team isn’t giving them anything to cheer about. I’ll probably watch a few innings and see if they appear to have a pulse and if not quickly move on to other things as it’s turning out to be another year of what could or should have been.

Hopefully we’ll get some good basketball recruiting news tomorrow to offset the baseball blues.

[sfs20]

I wish we would see more passion from this team. Just going through the motions especially in a rivalry series doesn’t sit well with me. If they don’t pick it up soon then they will play their way out of making a regional.

[WildcatEngineer]

The KU pitcher that ended the game certainly was passionate, If it was Basketball the guy would have got T'd up for taunting.

[bhoovy]

I’ve watched through 4 innings and the Cats have struck out 8 freaking times. Wintroub gave up 2, one on a fly ball tag up and a solo homer. Cats are just lifeless at the plate. Every pitcher for another collegiate team in America wants to throw against the Cats as they’ve made pitchers look like Cy Young. Just pathetic.

Leaving and will maybe look at the score later. Or not.

[stlcatfan]

Looks like the 'Cats pulled it out to win the series over KU.

[bhoovy]

I came back to find the Cats up 4-2 in the top of the 8th. I rewound to see how they got there. They pushed one across in the 5th on a sacrifice fly. Then did the same in the 6th to tie it up. In the 7th with two out, Ingram got a four pitch walk. Bishop came up and drove a single through the right side of the infield and Ingram moved to 3rd. Bishop got second on a bobbled pitch. And then Nick English was the man again, like in game one, with a single to right that scored both runners.

Not to be overlooked, Blake Dean has come out of the pen to pitch 3-2/3 scoreless innings, only allowing one hit. In the 9th it was Neighbors to close it out. He got the first two, but in KSU dramatic fashion he gave up a hit and then struck out the batter but it was a wild pitch that Pellitier couldn’t handle to bring the go ahead run to the plate. He got hit but it was just a long fly ball to Jones to end the game.

Wintroub went 4 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits. He gave up a solo homer and only struck out one but didn’t walk anyone. Allen Arther pitched a third of an inning striking out one and walking one. That’s when Dean came in and was really good. Again went 3-2/3 and didn’t give up a run, only allowing one hit and striking out 3 and walking 1. Neighbors with the 9th allowing none, with one hit, one wild pitch and 3 K’s.

Parsons continued to hit as he had a 3 hit day and English had 2. Parsons is now leading the team with a .368 average. He’s really turned it on and is also playing a solid 3rd.

English was player of the game and you can’t really argue, but I think I’d have co-mvp’s with Dean being the other. He kept the hawks at two allowing his team a chance to comeback.

So the Cats get the much needed win and win the series. Still a game behind ku and Cincinnati both. Are currently in 7th place. They have a tough series coming up with WVU, but they did just lose their series to Cincinnati on the road. Cats just can’t get swept and then probably need to sweep BYU at home to close out the regular season. That would put them at 32-21 and a very good RPI and SOS. That may put them in regardless of what they do in the conference tournament, but a win or two would pretty much cement them. Just can’t get swept in Morgantown and can’t lose the series to BYU, which would hurt the resume.

They’ve pulled me back in for the time being. Just hope they can finally get a good road series next weekend.