K-State baseball’s bats came alive Wednesday night, as the Wildcats put up double-digit runs for the first time since mid-March in a 10-2 dismantling of Nebraska-Omaha at Werner Park in Papillion, Nebraska.
Junior catcher Alex Bee drew first blood as a fly out in the top of the fourth inning scored senior infielder Shane Conlon.
The Wildcats notched another run in the fifth inning as a throwing error brought junior outfielder Clayton Dalrymple across the plate to take a 2-0 lead on the Mavericks.
Senior starting pitcher Mark Biesma cruised through the first four innings with little problem, giving up only three hits.
However, Nebraska-Omaha had a response for K-State later in the fifth inning. The Mavericks would get the benefit of a two-out walk with the bases loaded to get their first run across before K-State junior reliever Brandon Erickson brought another run around after hitting the next batter to even the score at two.
From that point, the Wildcats’ pitching was on lockdown. K-State allowed just two hits in the final three innings to shut the door on Nebraska-Omaha.
Meanwhile, K-State’s bats were just heating up. The Wildcats took a 3-2 lead on a junior infielder Tyler Wolfe single in the seventh that scored senior infielder Carter Yagi.
K-State kept the fire rolling into a monster six-run eighth inning that put the game far out of reach.
Wolfe and Dalrymple put up two RBIs each in the eighth inning. Yagi tallied one RBI and Browning walked with the bases loaded.
Wolfe led all players with three RBIs, even though he only recorded one hit on the evening.
K-State added insult to injury in the top of the ninth inning, as sophomore infielder Steve Serratore added one more run to finish the Mavericks off.
Junior reliever Lucas Benenati grabbed his first win of the season after pitching a near flawless seventh and eighth inning.
K-State now holds a 8-1 all-time series lead against Nebraska-Omaha. The Wildcats are 9-3 this season when scoring at least five runs and undefeated when scoring more than nine runs.
The win also snaps a three-game losing skid.
K-State will now return home for a weekend series with conference powerhouse in No. 2 TCU. First pitch between the Wildcats and Horned Frogs is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Tointon Family Stadium.
