A season ago the Kansas State baseball team was in a similar position to the one they are in right now. They were 13-19 through 32 games and an abysmal 0-8 in Big 12 play.
They finished off the season much better than they started it, going 13-12 and 8-8 in the Big 12 the rest of the way to earn a spot in the Big 12 tournament at the season’s end.
This year’s Wildcat team sits at 16-16 and at 1-8 in the Big 12 through the same number of games and will need to turn it around like that team a year ago did to make the Big 12 tournament.
They will get their chance to turn their fortunes around this weekend against Texas Tech when they host the Red Raiders for three games at home.
“All of them are big series,” head coach Brad Hill said to K-State Sports. “We’ve just got to look at it as a great opportunity … Guys are playing hard and competing, doing the little things. We just need a break to go our way. And, probably more than anything else, we need that big hit to kind of take some pressure off.”
The Wildcats are coming off a 6-1 loss at home at the hands of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. K-State came out of the gates quick to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but could not muster any offense the rest of the game.
Nebraska was able to put the game away in the seventh inning when it put four runs on the board to push its lead to 6-1 and out of reach for the Wildcats.
“We just couldn’t produce much offensively,” Hill said. “We had maybe four opportunities with two-out RBI situations. If we are going to stay in the game, we’ve got to execute those.”
Texas Tech will be no easy opponent for the Wildcats to take down. The Red Raiders are 29-7 this season and currently sit at No. 2 in the Big 12 at 6-3. They have won four of their last five games and took two out of three against Baylor last weekend at home.
The Wildcats and Red Raiders will hit off the three-game series at 6:30 p.m. today. They will then face each other again at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday at Tointon Family Stadium.
