Although the weekend ended on a sour note when the K-State baseball team lost to West Virginia and came up just short of a series sweep, the Wildcats did find success on the road.
The Wildcats traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia, and took two of three games from the Mountaineers on their own diamond. Now looking to keep up the trend of winning, experience could be key for the BatCats tonight.
K-State, 16-20 overall, will be back at home tonight to play the 22-14 Nebraska Cornhuskers for the second time this season.
The Wildcats traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, earlier this month when the teams faced each other for the first time. K-State came out as the victors of that battle by a score of 4-2. A late rally by the Huskers gave the Wildcats’ two-run lead a scare when Nebraska loaded the bases with no outs, but the pitching came through and K-State escaped.
Although Nebraska did not have a great day at the plate as a team, one Husker did find a little bit of success off of K-State. Freshman catcher Jesse Wilkening gave the Wildcats trouble in the earlier matchup this season when he went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in one of the Huskers’ two runs.
Leading Nebraska entering tonight’s game, though, is junior first baseman Ben Miller.
The Clive, Iowa, native has started all of the Huskers’ 36 games this season. On the year, he is hitting a stellar .357 average and has scored 22 runs off of 55 hits. Miller has also driven in 26 runs at the plate.
The Wildcats now look to fight Nebraska and Miller’s success at the plate with some success of their own.
K-State has had multiple players lead the team at one point or another this season, but it is senior outfielder Clayton Dalrymple’s consistency that has given the Wildcats the most success at the plate.
Dalrymple has started in every game this year and holds a .349 batting average. He leads K-State in hits and runs with 51 and 36, respectively. Of the 51 hits, 10 are extra-base doubles. He is the only Wildcat who has double digit extra-base hits.
Junior pitcher Max Knutson will take the hill for the visiting Huskers. He enters the game with an 0-1 record and a 8.36 ERA. Freshman pitcher Logan Wiley will handle the pitching for the Wildcats. Wiley is 2-1 this year with a 4.50 ERA.
The game against the Huskers earlier this season snapped a four-game losing streak for the Wildcats. Perhaps a win over Nebraska this time could provide an energy spark that gets the Wildcats on a winning streak.
First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. today at Tointon Family Stadium.
