After two big weekend series, your Kansas State Wildcats sit at 6-1 on the young season, including going 4-0 versus Big 10 opponents. Of course, the Big 10 is not a baseball conference (outside of the newer teams from the Pac-12), so you might temper your enthusiasm a bit — but it’s still way better than sweeping a series with, say, Stetson.
Now, after just one day off, the BatCats are back in action. They headed east from Arlington to Lafayette, LA to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns of the University of Louisiana
at Lafayette. The Cajuns are normally a really good program, and have been regular fixtures in the NCAA postseason since the late 1980’s, including most recently three straight regional appearances from 2022-2024. Last season, despite lofty expectations, the Ragin’ Cajuns limped to their first losing season since 2019, and just their third losing season this millennium, despite going 16-14 in Sun Belt action in the regular season.
Louisiana has opened the 2026 season at 5-2, including 4-2 at home. They lost their first two games of the season to Missouri State but have not lost since, including beating Rice 3-0 in Houston in a mid-week game, and sweeping a home series last weekend against Maryland — though the Cajuns needed 15 innings on Sunday to complete the sweep.
So this is not a team to take lightly. K-State should be expected to win, but they are going to have to earn it if they want to head back to Manhattan with a couple of good wins.
Both games here in mid-week action are at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park and will be available on KMAN in Manhattan and online at KStateSports.com/watch with Brian Smoller calling the action there. Originally it looked like both games were going to be on ESPN+, but now both schools are reporting that just Wednesday’s contest will be available on that streaming platform, with no video available for Tuesday night (which is absolutely inexcusable in 2026).
Game 1
Tanner Duke takes the mound tonight at 6pm CT for his second start of the season, and he’ll be looking to bounce back from a bit of a rough outing a week ago against Air Force. Duke, a junior righty, threw 65 pitches in just 2.2 innings, allowing four runs while giving up 6 hits, two walks, and two HBP to just four strikeouts before getting pulled.
The Cat batters will face true-freshman right-hander Sawyer Pruitt to open the game. Pruitt is a large young human, standing 6’7” with a listed weight of 240lbs, and the Louisiana native has lived up to his billing as a top recruit here in the early going. Pruitt has already appeared in three games, and was the starter for the mid-week shutout against Rice. In eight-and-two-thirds innings of work, the freshman has allowed just eight hits and one run (unearned), throwing 10 strikeouts to just two walks. He’s allowed just one extra-base hit, a double in a loss to the Bears — also the game where he gave up the unearned run.
The Cats will need to avoid defensive mistakes and poor plate appearances if they want to pick this one up.
Game 2
Wednesday night is also set for a 6pm CT first-pitch. Neither team has named a starter, as presumably both will wait to see usage on Tuesday before pulling the trigger on the Wednesday starter. Some possibilities for K-State include: Aaron Arnold, the senior Wichita State transfer, who has yet to make an appearance for the Cats; Matt Flores, a senior transfer from UC Riverside who made nine starts last year but has pitched just one inning for the Cats this season; and Ethan Giesbrecht, a junior who spent the last two years at Hutchinson CC where he was named Jayhawk Second Team All-Region and Jayhawk West First Team All-Conference as a sophomore and made 27 starts for the Blue Dragons.
