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It's the Sunflower Showdown! The baseball team will take on in-state rival Kansas for a chance to play in the Big 12 championships. First pitch is tonight at 6 PM at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence. Right-hander Nate Griep will get the start. The BatCats lead the all-time series 173-165-1.
Meanwhile, Griep and Shane Conlon were honored as Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and Player of the Week respectively for their performance last week. This was the first such honor for Conlon, and the eighth overall for Kansas State this season, tied for most by a single team and most for a single season in school history.
Matt Green shot a 1-over-par 73 in the first round of the NCAA San Diego Regional. He is currently tied for 13th place. He is four shots off the lead with a logjam of players tied for first place with a 3-under-par 69 on the day.
The track and field teams are in Ames this weekend for the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. The event will begin with the men's decathlon at 11 AM today and continue into Sunday. Both teams are short-handed and missing the services of key individuals, but the women's team should make the highlight reels, and much is expected of the team that finished second in the indoor championships. Look for A'Keyla Mitchell and Akela Jones in particular to do well at the event, while on the men's side, Christoff Bryan and Nate Gipson look to keep Kansas State entrenched as High Jump U.
Matt Hinton, writing at Grantland, takes a look at the tire fire that is Kansas football and the massive rebuilding job ahead for David Beaty. This is mostly of academic interest around here, but Kansas State gets a few predictable mentions, both for Bill Snyder's efforts at building a program and for the strong walk-on tradition.
Ed: I have a feeling this article has appeared in a previous Slate, in which case, apologies.