SLATE: Former Wildcat Heath heads to Appalachian State

This is not the most eventful Friday for the Wildcats, as both tennis and rowing are off this weekend and golf is idle until Monday. As a result, we send you into Final Four weekend with an abbreviated Slate.

Football

Yes, football is at the top of today’s menu today because yesterday’s football news was the biggest item in the kitchen. Last night, Dominique Heath tweeted this announcement:

Because Heath will have graduated by the end of the semester, he’ll be immediately eligible to play for the Mountaineers. He’ll be joining another former Wildcat in Boone, as Corey Sutton transferred there last off-season. Appalachian State, the reigning co-champions of the Sun Belt, wrapped a 9-4 campaign in 2017 by routing Toledo 34-0 in the Dollar General Bowl in Mobile. The Mountaineers actually return a bunch of production at wideout in 2018, so it will be interesting to see whether Heath jumps into the starting lineup or has to fight for snaps.

Regardless, we wish Dom the best. Although his numbers declined in 2017, he was still a critical component, and he provided enough moments that we’ll always think of him as EMAW.

Men’s Basketball

The Star’s Kellis Robinett answers reader questions in this morning’s Q&A, which is mostly, but not entirely, about basketball.

Baseball

After sinking to .500 last weekend, the BatCats got a much-needed win mid-week against Nebraska-Omaha. Last night, in an early start to their weekend series, they also got their first Big 12 win with a 5-2 victory over Texas at Tointon. Kasey Ford only lasted 5⅔ innings, but only gave up two hits during that time; when he left, T.K. McWhertor and Brett Owen had already staked him to a 4-1 lead with two RBI each. Jared Marolf threw 1⅔ innings for the hold, giving up a single run, while Tyler Eckberg tossed two innings of scoreless relief for the save. Shane Lewis at The Daily Texan has the Longhorn view of the game.

Corbin McGuire focused on two of those Wildcats in the last two days. In yesterday’s Sports Extra, before the catcher helped beat the Longhorns with his bat, McGuire checked in on McWhertor’s recovery from Tommy John surgery.

In today’s edition, McGuire writes about Marolf bouncing back from a disastrous outing and loss against TCU by hurling a couple of scoreless innings against Omaha and recording the hold last night.

The Cats continue the Texas series tonight at 6:30pm, streaming on ESPN3 and airing live on KMAN and via KStateHD.tv.

Track and Field

The team is split this weekend, with four men heading west to run the 10k relay at the San Francisco Distance Carnival at Chabot College in Hayward, Calif. That begins at 11:15am this morning.

The remainder of the squad will schlep down to Emporia for the Emporia State Relays at Fran Welch Stadium. That kicks off at 10:30am tomorrow. Don’t expect a lot of big-name Wildcats; most of them are taking the weekend off after last week’s successful Roadrunner Invitational.