Headed into our first mid-week home game of the season, your Kansas State Wildcats baseball team sits at 11-4 on the season and compiled a 5-1 home record, taking last weekend’s series in a sweep that ended with a 20-7 run-rule victory on Sunday.
Aided by friendly weather, the Wildcats bats had no trouble this past weekend and scoring 14, 8, and 20 runs in their victories, but giving up only 16 runs spread across three games. That 20-run effort on Sunday also included a school-record-breaking eight
team homeruns, lead by three off the bat of Dee Kennedy. Though as impressive as Kennedy was, especially on Sunday, he wasn’t even the highlight on his own team.
Ty Smolinski had himself a weekend, and was basically automatic at the plate going 9-9 across the series, including picking up four hits twice, knocking around four doubles and three homeruns, and had a team-leading nine RBI. He posted a staggering 2.444 slugging percentage and a perfect 1.000 on-base percentage, reaching safely in 12 consecutive plate appearances and producing a monstrous 3.444 OPS. In the series opener on Friday, Ty was a triple short of hitting for the cycle — finishing with a single, two doubles, and a home run. In Sunday’s finale, Smolinski delivered his first career multi-home run game and drove in a career-high six RBI.
Now the Wildcats will need to show they can deliver on the mound and at the plate against a significant step up in competition.
In-state rival Wichita State is in town tonight for the first game of a home-and-home series, with the return game to Wichita in about a month. The Shockers are 11-5 on the season, but have played 12 of those 16 games in the friendly confines of Eck Stadium. In their lone road trip, WSU went 2-2 against Hawaii in Honolulu, dropping the first two before winning a double-header before heading back to the mainland. Last time out, the Shockers split a four-game series with West Georgia, going 22-4 (7), 4-5, 12-7, and 11-13 in a game shortened by West Georgia’s travel schedule.
This could easily be another offense-heavy game, especially with warm but windy conditions ahead of some potential nasty weather this evening. It would not be a shock if this game was delayed or suspended due to weather.
Taking the mound first for the Wildcats is Cohen Feser. Feser, a redshirt senior, is making the first start of his collegiate career after four appearances out of the pen so far this season at K-State, and 47 appearances (all out of the pen) in the three seasons he played at TCU prior to heading north. In 7.2 innings of work so far this season, the righty has an ERA of 1.17, giving up seven hits but just one run and tossing six strikeouts to pick up a win and two saves on the season.
Countering for the Shockers is Dax Sharp, a graduate student who joined WSU after two seasons at Central Oklahoma and two season at Neosho County CC. The lefty is also making his first start of the season after coming out of the bullpen against Omaha and West Georgia. In nearly four innings of work, Sharp has given up just one hit to zero runs, and tossed four strikeouts to come into today’s game with a perfect 0.00 ERA. Unlike Feser, Sharp is no stranger to the starting role, making 17 starts for the Bronchos and 26 starts while in Chanute.
Tonight’s contest is set for a 6pm start from Tointon Family Satdium, and will be broadcast on ESPN+ via production from K-StateHD.TV, with Brian Smoller (play-by-play), Jared Goedert (analyst), and Sophie Smith (sidelines) covering the action there.
Tonight’s game will be available over-the-air on KMAN in Manhattan and streaming on the Varsity Network app and kstatesports.com/watch with Matt Walters doing play-by-play with Trevor Hurley set to color the broadcast.
Go Cats!
