A five-game homestand last week for the K-State baseball team did not turn out well for head coach Brad Hill’s squad. The Wildcats hosted Stephen F. Austin State University and Western Carolina University over spring break.
K-State went 1-4 in those five games.
Now looking to rebound from their recent struggles, the 11-9 Wildcats will travel to TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, to face the 12-4 Creighton Bluejays.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams. The first meeting took place at Tointon Family Stadium on March 9. In that game, K-State used a two-run fifth inning and a four-run eighth inning to defeat the Bluejays 8-2 and win their sixth game in a row.
Today is a different story as the Wildcats look to stop their current downward spiral and the Bluejays look to continue their hot streak. Creighton has won six games straight and has not lost since the matchup with K-State.
The K-State offense is still led by junior infielder Jake Wodtke. He has been the consistent backbone offensively this season. Early on, Wodtke held a batting average that eclipsed .400.
He has since cooled off with that success but is still playing well for his team. Wodtke is hitting .378, has 22 runs and 28 hits. He leads K-State in all of those categories.
Whereas Wodtke leads the team on paper, he did not have a fantastic outing in his first shot at the Bluejays. He scored two runs but struggled at the plate, going 1 for 5. Senior outfielder Clayton Dalrymple stepped up his batting game for the Wildcats that day, going 2 for 3 at the plate and scoring a run.
The Wildcat bats will square off against Creighton senior Connor Miller, who will take the mound for the Bluejays.
Miller has not started this season for Creighton and he has an 0-0 record with a 0.0 ERA; however, he has appeared in seven games this season, including the earlier matchup with K-State where he pitched just one inning, striking out one batter and walking another.
K-State freshman Logan Wiley will do the pitching for the Wildcats. He enters the game with a 1-0 record and a 4.35 ERA on the season.
First pitch between the Wildcats and the Bluejays will be at 6:30 p.m. today.
