Slate: Kansas State Baseball still owns the state

Baseball

There hasn’t been much joy in Mudville this season, but the Wildcats still managed to win where it counts the most — on home soil (or turf). Tuesday, the Cats traveled down to Wichita’s Eck Stadium to face the Wichita State Shockers in the final mid-week game of the season. The Wildcats (21-30) got a complete game out of senior Justin Heskett, the first of his career, and proceed to win 7-3 over the host Shockers. More impressive is that WSU is 32-18-1 on the season, and holds victories over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, and the loss was just their 8th at home all season.

With the win, the Wildcats hold a 3-1 mark over in-state rivals this season, returning ownership of the state to Manhattan after it was lost briefly last season. Coach Brad Hill will end his coaching career at K-State holding a 20-10 advantage over the Shockers (including 10 of the last 12), and a 29-19 advantage over the Jayhawks. #WeOwnThisState

Conference academic awards have been announced, and Hill’s squad placed nine student-athletes on the 2018 Academic All-Big 12 teams, including eight on the first team. The eight first-team selections are the most the Wildcats have ever placed on the first team, while the nine total are the most honorees since 2014.

Golf

K-State golfer Jeremy Gandon began his journey towards reaching the NCAA Championship Monday, and yesterday the junior from France got closer to that goal carding a 2-under-par 70 to move to an even-par 144 through two days. That score is currently good enough for a tie for 26th place, and puts Gandon only three strokes away from the top 15. Gandon’s second day performance was marked by a bogey-free front nine, and five birdies overall.

Football

There are now four new Wildcats in the NFL with actual contracts, as long snapper Drew Scott officially singed with the Oakland Raiders on Tuesday. Scott joins draftee D.J. Reed (49ers), as well as UDFA’s Matt McCrane (Cardinals) and Byron Pringle (Chiefs) with rookie deals. He’ll see some friendly faces out in Oakland, as Scott joins former Wildcats Jordy Nelson and Emmanuel Lamur on the Raiders roster.

Other

In some surprising news, the rare “corpse” flower at the K-State greenhouse is set to bloom again, after just blooming last year (Mercury). Typically these plants bloom only every 7-15 years, so this is definitely a special event. There is a live feed of the blooming process available.