Slate: BatCats struggle after delay

Baseball

Not much went as planned for K-State baseball on Tuesday night. First, rainy weather in Manhattan forced a delay from the original 3pm start time to 7pm, and it just got worse from there. Canisius, who entered last night’s game losers of 10 of their last 11 games, plated 8 runs in the first two innings, and six more in the 7th, and beat the Wildcats 15-3. K-State committed a season-high seven errors in the loss, while the pitching staff issued 10 walks to go with 12 hits given up. The loss drops K-State back to .500 overall at 10-10 on he season.

The Cats will look to bounce back today against the Golden Griffins in a scheduled 3pm CDT tilt that will be available streaming online on ESPN3 and over-the-air on KMAN in Manhattan.

Basketball

Tuesday evening did not provide good news from the basketball team either. Head coach Bruce Weber talked to reporters before the team departed Manhattan for San Jose and gave an update on Dean Wade’s status — and things do not look good for the First Team All-Big 12 selection. Weber said that Wade is still “doubtful” for the tournament, and that while a doctor's visit on Monday showed progress, Wade is still experiencing pain and is still in a boot and on and off crutches (Black, Mercury). It’s incredibly likely that the Big 12-sealing win over OU was Wade’s last action as a Wildcat.

The rest of the team is focused on making sure the Wildcats don’t have a repeat of what happened the last time K-State entered the tournament after winning a Big 12 title, which was also the last time the Wildcats were a 4-seed facing off against a 13-seed (Green, C-J). The Wildcats are headed out west early to get acclimated, and will be travelling with the K-State pep band and cheerleaders, who will also get to enjoy southern California for an extra day or two.

Football

There was some positive news out of Vanier Tuesday afternoon, as new Wildcat head coach Chris Klieman briefed reporters for the second time during spring practice. And while the Cats just completed their third practice, Klieman with the energy and emotion of his players, as well as how much they’ve retained of the new systems even after a week-long break. Several players have stood out to the new head man, one in particular is Michigan State transfer Hunter Rison, who will be eligible to play for the Wildcats this fall after sitting out last season (Robinett, Eagle/Star).

Other

2019 continues to be the year of the Wildcat as K-State continues to surpass it’s younger brother in Lawrence. This time it wasn’t athletic competition, but rather a new ranking of public universities via Learn.org that has the Wildcats ranked number 2 among the 50 best public schools in the nation, behind just Indiana University and ahead of third-place KU.

Go Cats!