Baseball season ends with loss to Kansas

Baseball

Kansas State’s 2019 campaign came to an end at the Big 12 Tournament with a 15-14 loss to Kansas in extra innings.

The BatCats started the game poorly and found themselves in a 6-1 hole after just two inning. But a furious comeback, fueled by a three-run homer by Dylan Phillips in the fourth inning, helped Kansas State take an 11-7 lead into the sixth inning. Kansas fought back though and tied the game at 11-11 in the seventh inning. The teams then battled into extra innings, with the BatCats getting three runs from a two-RBI double by Phillips and a go-ahead single from Chris Ceballos to go up 14-11.

Alas, it was not enough. Kansas scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the 11th to seal the deal and end Kansas State’s Big 12 tournament hopes.

The season is now over, but the future looks better. As head coach Pete Hughes noted after the game,

I am excited for this team. We have a great group of guys and good things will come from the years to come.

Track

The track athletes are still in competition, this time in Sacramento as the NCAA West Preliminaries, trying to qualify for various events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin.

Jullane Walker was the big Kansas State performer yesterday, punching his ticket to the NCAAs in the long jump with a huge personal best mark of 7.78m. Later in the day, he also ran a 10.29 in the 100m to qualify for the quarterfinals of that event.

Helene Ingvaldsen, the current Big 12 hammer throw champion, placed 11th in the event to qualify for the NCAAs.

Ranae McKenzie, who currently owns the top collegiate mark in the 400H, easily won her heat to move on to the quarterfinals in the event. Teammate Kassidy Johnson also made the quarterfinals in the 800m event, although fellow 800m runner Alex Ferguson did not.

There was a bit of disappointment for #HighJumpU, as Big 12 runner up Clare Gibson finished 14th and narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAAs in the women’s high jump. Meanwhile, Taishia Pryce who blew away the field at the Big 12s and owned the top mark in the event coming into the West Preliminaries, had a bad day at the sand pit. She fouled on her first attempt, hit 6.02m on her second attempt, and fouled on her third attempt, good enough for 19th place but not for the NCAAs.

The Wildcats are back in action later today, as competition at the West Preliminaries continues.