Kansas State baseball played another wild game against Holy Cross, this time losing 13-10. Pitcher Blake Dean recorded the loss, moving his record to 0-2 as Crusader Luke LeMond grabbed the win.
“Holy Cross was better than we were tonight,” head coach Pete Hughes said. “They deserve to beat us. We’re not gonna beat anyone if our starters can’t go more than one inning.”
The first inning was off to another crazy start for Holy Cross. K-State starting pitcher Jacob Frost managed to grab two outs with no runs, but the Crusaders battled. Five batters later, Holy Cross led the game 5-0 before the Wildcat bats could even make the field.
Once the bats took the field, they were rolling. Shortstop Kaelen Culpepper sent his third home run of the season over the wall to bring in himself and two runners.
K-State gained another run off a balk in the second inning. After the Crusaders scored a third-inning run, second baseman Brady Day hit the two-run home run to bring the score to 6-6.
The home runs continued, as Holy Cross sent their own two-run home run over the wall in the fourth to go back up 8-6.
The lead grew to 9-8, when, in the bottom of the eighth inning, left fielder Chuck Ingram sent a bomb over left field to tie it up at 9-9.
Neither team scored in the ninth, sending the game to extras. Holy Cross dominated the 10th inning, fueled by a three-run home run by designated hitter Sean Scanlon.
Dean had thrown 3 2/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts before the home run. After scoring their final run, the Crusaders were three outs away from a victory up 13-9.
“[The] kid is 0-2 and he’s our best pitcher,” Hughes said. “Absolute dominant stuff. He did everything that he could do to get us back in that game, but we couldn’t get a big hit to win that game. … It’s a shame he’s 0-2 honestly. That is not reflective of his stuff and what he’s doing for our program right now.
Designated hitter Jayden Lobliner drove in a run, but the Crusaders grabbed the final out after and secured the win despite K-State racking up 13 walks on the night.
“You got to get paid more than 10 runs with 13 walks,” Hughes said. “I thought our bullpen did a good job. They got backed against the wall.”
K-State’s record moves to 3-3 as the series is decided at 11 a.m. Sunday with Owen Boerema starting.
“Owen’s been a steady guy for us the last two years, so if I had to pick someone to throw tomorrow for us it would be him,” Hughes said. “We’re gonna need him tomorrow.”
