A tale of three different games ended by the bat of Kansas State freshman designated hitter Nick English, striking a walk-off single to beat Cincinnati 14-13. The Wildcats won the first series of conference play 2-1 after opening the series with a no-hitter against the Bearcats.
Since Friday evening’s historic moment, the Wildcat pitching fell off drastically. Pitcher Owen Boerema got the start Sunday but didn’t pitch long. After one inning, Boerema left, allowing four earned runs and eight base runners. He was replaced by one of Friday night’s no-hitting pitchers, Jackson Wentworth. Wentworth threw for 3 1/3 innings, striking out five but allowing another three runs.
Through the pitching struggles, the K-State offense kept in stride. The Wildcats responded to the Bearcats’ four first inning runs with four of their own. This included second baseman Brady Day hitting his fifth home run of the season.
Through seven innings, K-State would witness left fielder Chuck Ingram hit his own home run, his third of the season. Nevertheless, once the eighth inning came around, Cincinnati led 11-7, the exact score as Saturday night’s game.
The Wildcats brought the score within one as Day brought in his third RBI of the day and shortstop Kaelen Culpepper and center fielder Brendan Jones each brought in their first.
The ninth inning came around with pitcher Mason Buss delivering his second of four scoreless innings to place K-State down one for one final chance. The game was tied instantly with the inning lead off hitter Kyan Lodice smacking a solo shot to bring the game to extras innings.
Buss pitched a scoreless 10th and 11th inning with K-State scoring zero as well. He was replaced by pitcher Andrew Evans, who allowed two runs in the 12th inning. Down two, Jones drove in his second and third RBI as he hit K-State’s fourth home run of the day to tie things up.
Culpepper followed up Jones by walking on base and eventually finding himself as the winning runner on third base. With Culpepper in scoring position, the 13-inning battle was ended by English’s single to drive in Culpepper. Despite allowing two runs, Evans earned his second win of the season.
With the win, the Wildcats moved to a 9-6 record and 2-1 in conference. Conference play takes a five-game break, starting with South Dakota State at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Manhattan.
