- Record (Overall/Big 12): MU 19-26/ 6-11; T-9th; KSU 27-18/ 8-12; 8th
- RPI: MU 100th; KSU 28th
- ISR: MU 130th; KSU 33rd
- Strength of Schedule: MU 43rd; KSU 39th
■ Did you know that Kansas State was the first Big 7 team to include a black player on the roster? And did you know that player was Earl Woods, Tiger Woods' father, who was a catcher for the Wildcats in 1952-53 . Read more about it HERE.■ Bakersfield bats too much for Cats (TheMercury.com, 5/5)
Kansas State led Cal State Bakersfield 8-3 after two innings, and it looked like the Wildcats' bats were showing no signs of stopping.
But Martin Medina — the Roadrunners' closer — entered the game and everything turned around.
Medina pitched eight innings, allowing four earned runs, but only one over the final six innings while striking out nine. Medina's performance on the mound allowed the Roadrunners' hitters to battle back, and they did, as a four-run fifth gave them a 10-9 lead they would never relinquish as they defeated the Wildcats 13-10 Wednesday night.
"You get kind of a lead like that and we didn't recover offensively," K-State coach Brad Hill said. "Their guy came in, did a great job, then we left the (strike) zone and our swings got long.
"We were very good the first three innings, we were short and flat. But his slider just exposed our long swings and we started swinging at some bad pitches."
■ KSU's Allen named Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week (TheMercury.com, 4/27)
K-State junior pitcher James Allen was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week after his performance last weekend against Texas Tech, the conference office announced Tuesday.
It is the first career distinction for Allen, while he is the second K-State pitcher this season to earn the nod after starter Kyle Hunter was honored two weeks ago.
Allen recorded a save in all three games against the Red Raiders, the first Wildcat with three saves in a conference series in the Big 12 era and the first by a conference pitcher since 2009.
In the process, the right-hander broke two school records, as he tallied his 13th save of the season and his 27th of his career on Saturday. Allen eclipsed the records held by Daniel Edwards, who had 12 in 2008 and 26 in his career.
■ Kivett producing as Cats' new leadoff man (TheMercury, 4/21)
Ross Kivett is only a true freshman, but Kansas State's new leadoff hitter is swinging the bat like an upperclassman.
Kivett moved to the leadoff spot just last week, and in his four games at the top of the lineup, he's produced at a high level. Since the move, the Ohio native is 8-for-17 at the plate, including a 4-for-5 performance in Tuesday night's 10-4 victory over Missouri State.
. . .
"I think Coach (Brad Hill) was looking for the right fit," said Szefc, who is also the Wildcats hitting coach. "We tried a few guys and I think we put Ross in there just because of his toughness, kind of how he plays. He plays in fifth gear the whole time.
■ Are there a bigger set of Jekyl & Hyde teams out there than Stanford and Kansas State? (College Baseball Today, 4/10)
These two teams come from different ends of the spectrum, but give off similar shine. Let’s just hope it’s not light from a dead star, right? Today, KSU pulled out a second win over No. 7 Oklahoma with a 6-2 win, giving the Purple Cats their first series win over the Sooners since 2001. But they’ve also had some bruise-ugly losses, like to teams like Long Island (?), Western Kentucky and Cal.■ Nick Martini: Kansas State record-breaker (boxofmess.com, 4/6)
Last Sunday, junior K-State baseball standout Nick Martini broke the supposed NCAA Division I record for consecutive games reaching base safely, as he notched his 87th straight game against the Texas A&M Aggies. Martini broke the record during the second inning of Sunday’s contest with a double that also notched him two RBI’s.
“I think it’s something cool, something I strive for to get on base a lot,” Martini said. “It’s a much better feeling getting it that way, you don’t catch as much flak from your teammates.”
The record, which began on May 1, 2009 against Rice, is a feat that is certainly hard to achieve, as even the best hitters at the highest levels of baseball have the occasional off day where they fail to reach base.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Kansas State head coach Brad Hill said. “It’s hard to describe, I don’t know how that happens. His ability to be unselfish and not swing at bad pitches, that’s a lot of at bats that you’re talking about. For him to be able to string that many games together and get on base is pretty phenomenal.”
While Martini, who is the reigning Big 12 player of the year and leads the team with a .354 batting average often gets on base with a hit, there were times where it came down to a last at-bat or a walk to keep the streak going. On Saturday, Martini went 0-3 with an intentional walk on his final at-bat, which kept the streak alive.
“It’s really tough, especially in the conference that we play in and the pitchers that we face day in and day out,” Martini said. “It’s a great personal achievement for me to get on base all those games. There was a game in last year’s regional against Washington State where I was 0-4 going into the last at-bat, and they brought in a tough lefty and I forced a walk, I think that was one of the closest calls I had.”
While a walk is not as pretty as a base hit, it is still a skill to draw a walk, and a testament to a player’s ability to draw an intentional walk, such as what happened on Saturday.
“It means I’m on base [to get a walk],” Martini said. “I can steal bases and use my legs for the other guys behind me.”
Not only did Martini’s record-breaking hit come at a pivotal point in the game for the Wildcats, but also he did it against one of the best teams in the country and against his old hitting coach, Andy Sawyers. The Aggies’ head coach Rob Childress said that if the record were to happen to someone, it would happen to a Nick Martini.
“That’s definitely great praise,” Martini said. “He’s high up there in baseball and I think that’s cool that someone looks at me like that, and it’s a great honor that this happened to me.”
Martini will look to extend his streak to 88 games on Friday, as the Wildcats play host to the No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners.
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