Slate: BatCats pick up big rivalry win Wednesday night

Baseball

We lacked a Wednesday Slate because there was just one thing to write about, and maybe we should have written about that one thing anyway.

Last night your Kansas State Wildcats baseball team hosted the rival Wichita State Shockers at Tointon Family Stadium. The Wildcats dropped the first game of the season series 8-5 in Wichita back at the end of March, but on a cold and dreary May Day the Wildcats would not be swept. Both teams offense mirrored the conditions in Manhattan through the first six innings, and at the stretch it was all tied up at 2-2. But then three straight singles loaded the bases for the Wildcats, and the senior Will Brennan caught every bit of a breaking ball left over the plate to knock a go-ahead grand slam over the scoreboard to give the Cats a commanding 6-2 lead. One more insurance run courtesy of an RBI double from Caleb Littlejim in the 7th was all the Wildcats would need to secure a 7-2 victory and split the season series with the Shockers. With the win, K-State improved to 22-24 overall on the season, and have now won four-straight against non-conference opponents. We also have a report from Taylor Eldridge at the Wichita Eagle from the WSU side of the game.

This weekend the BatCats head south to Waco to take on the Big 12-leading Baylor Bears. The Bears are coming off a weekend where the swept TCU in Ft. Worth, including a 15-2 victory last Saturday, and a run-rule-shortened 12-1 victory on Sunday.

Golf

It wasn’t the whole team like the Wildcats had hoped, as the Cats were one of the “first out” of this year’s NCAA Regional field, but golfers Jeremy Gandon, Roland Massimino, and Jacob Eklund were selected to represent K-State and compete as individuals in the 2019 NCAA Athens Regional. Massimino was selected as the No. 1 individual, followed by Eklund at No. 2, and Gandon at No. 5. According the K-State SID, it is the second time in school history multiple individuals will compete in the postseason (the first in 2010), and the first time ever the Wildcats will send three individuals to a regional.

Rowing

The rowing edition of the Sunflower Showdown is this weekend, and according to today’s Sports Extra, the RowCats are more ready than they have ever been headed into this part of the season. And the Wildcats have some extra incentive, as they won the Governor’s Cup last year, and do not want to send the Cup back to Lawrence any time soon.

Tennis

The RacketCats received some more post-season honors, this time it was sophomore Anna Turco who was named to the 2019 All-Big 12 Second Team in singles, as announced by the Big 12 Conference office on Wednesday. This is Turco’s first career honor, and it was well deserved after leading the Wildcats with 14 singles victories during the spring season and was the Wildcats No. 1 singles player headed into the Big 12 Championship.