Kansas State baseball got a go-ahead RBI double from Micah Dean in the seventh which ended up being the winning run for the Wildcats, stunning No. 5 Arkansas 3-2 in the opener of a three-game tournament in Arlington, Texas at Globe Life Field.
Michael Dean’s game-winning hit handed the Razorbacks (4-1) their first loss of the season and boosted the Wildcats to 2-4 after a slow start. The freshman was rewarded with the player of the game for his efforts.
K-State kept its momentum against the highly touted Razorbacks rolling after upsetting their home regional in last year’s NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Super Regionals for the first time since 2013.
Starting for the Wildcats was senior Jacob Frost who gave the ‘Cats their best outing all year, taking a one-hitter into the sixth inning. Frost held the Razorbacks to just two runs before handing the ball over to sophomore Blake Dean. Dean and Frost combined for 11 strikeouts on the night.
“So proud of our guys for their toughness and resilience through a challenging stretch,” K-State head coach Pete Hughes said to K-State Athletics. “We had great pitching, and our guys competed in the zone all night.”
Blake Dean went 3 2/3 innings in relief and retired 11 of the 14 batters he faced including striking out five.
In the third inning, the Wildcats struck first as they got an RBI single with two outs from Dee Kennedy who has been off to a fast start for K-State. The Wildcats also tacked on another run in the fourth on an RBI single from Shintaro Inoue as he drove in Maximus Martin, who originally committed to Arkansas during the offseason.
“Offensively, we executed situational baseball well and performed against a really good arm,” Hughes said.
Arkansas struck with two runs in the sixth as they hit two solo home runs to tie the game up at 2-2.
The Wildcats then struck back immediately with a run in the seventh with the go-ahead double by Micah Dean. In the bottom of the seventh Dean also made a great defensive play as he threw out an Arkansas runner trying to reach third base, which was a big out at the time as it kept Arkansas out of scoring position.
The Wildcats’ defense continued to shut down Arkansas as the Razorbacks stranded their tying runs on base in the seventh and ninth innings. The Wildcats defense also made no errors in the game, playing the clean baseball needed to knock off a good team.
“This game is a good reflection of our team’s character and an important momentum builder, but we have some ground to make up,” Hughes said.
K-State had a tough schedule to start the year but they now have a signature win that will go on their resume for an NCAA tournament bid later this season. The Wildcats are 2-4 but can gain two more quality wins this weekend over Michigan and No. 22 TCU.
First, the Wildcats play Michigan on Saturday at 2 pm. Left-handed pitcher Michael Quevedo will get the start for the Wildcats.