Kansas State baseball secured its first series sweep of the season with a 10-1 Game 3 win over UMass Lowell. Starting pitcher Josh Wintroub earned his first start as a Wildcat and delivered, also earning his first win.
“He was the next man up with Ty [Ruhl] ruled out,” head coach Pete Hughes said. “He’s just not himself. And he might get hit around but he’s mature enough to handle that. He’s not gonna walk people. … I was more than happy for him to get to the seventh inning. I didn’t expect that.”
The Augustana college transfer pitched 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and allowing one run on three hits.
“I’ve started in my old school. … It was kind of nice to just have a routine, fall back on it” Wintroub said.
The entire series for K-State drastically differed in terms of pitching, particularly starting pitching. The Wildcats allowed 28 runs in the Holy Cross series as compared to five against UMass Lowell.
“You can just mix and match and it doesn’t spread your staff out so thin,” Hughes said about having efficient pitching. “I thought a lot of guys on our pitching staff contributed this weekend. … Pretty good without our best closer [Tyson Neighbors] available and without one of the best pitchers on our staff, Ty Ruhl, is not available right now. It’s tapping into our depth.”
Play went by fast early on as both strayed off any runs. Wintroub stayed steady, not allowing a hit until the fifth inning. He succeeded in keeping the River Hawks off the scoreboard even with bases loaded in the fifth.
On the other side, UMass Lowell’s starting pitcher James Capellupo kept the Wildcats scoreless while facing runners in scoring position in the second and fourth inning.
Eventually, the Wildcat bats broke through and broke through strong.
In the fifth inning, center fielder Brendan Jones’ RBI fielder choice began the four-run inning, featuring second baseman Brady Day’s eighth RBI of the series.
Jones added another unconventional RBI, his seventh of the series, in the sixth inning with a bunt to bring in third baseman Danniel Rivera from second base to go up 5-0. Jones’ day did not include just his two RBI but also two of the four Wildcat stolen bases.
“They [Jones and Day] got some big hits, got some big two-out hits,” Hughes said. “Another good sign that you got a mature hitter at the plate when we get two-out RBIs.”
UMass Lowell broke Wintroub’s scoreless streak with a solo home run in the seventh inning by third baseman Brandon Fish.
K-State responded with three more runs in the seventh to go up 8-1. Catcher Raphael Pelletier brought in two runs off a single as first baseman David Bishop brought in the third run via a fielder’s choice. Designated hitter Jayden Lobliner followed them up in the eighth inning with a two-run home run to extend the lead to 10-1.
The Wildcats move on after the six-game home stretch with a 7-3 record to back-to-back away games against Power 5 teams. First up is Tennessee at 5 p.m. Tuesday followed by Clemson on Wednesday.
“These are pivotal games for our resume,” Hughes said. “It was scheduled with the intent to get our program to the national level, which we think we have a national level program.”
