Kansas State baseball used an excellent offensive performance to reach 20 runs to complete a seven inning 20-6 rout, and home-opener sweep over William & Mary on Sunday.

“Awesome weekend,” head coach Pete Hughes said to K-State Athletics on his team’s fifth consecutive victory. “It’s really difficult to sweep in college baseball. We’ll never take that for granted, that’s for sure. Proud of our guys’ approach all weekend long.”

Junior Maximus Martin was phenomenal for the ‘Cats as the Shortstop was 5-for-5 on the afternoon, including hitting two home runs, scoring four runs and driving in three runs. 

Martin, who entered as the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, took the place of former Wildcat and first-round shortstop Kaelen Culpepper and has done a great job of filling his shoes this season. Martin made a strong case to be the Player of the Week again this week. 

Martin homered in his fourth consecutive game, including his third consecutive game homering in the first inning. Martin finished the series against William & Mary, hitting .667 with 12 RBI, seven runs scored, and eight hits, which included five home runs and one double.

“Again, Max Martin set the tone for our offense,” Hughes said. “He’s on a stretch that I have very rarely seen in my career, and I think the rest of the lineup is feeding off it.”

Martin wasn’t the only one to have a good day at the plate, as almost everyone in the Wildcats lineup had some type of production, namely left fielder Keegan O’Connor.

O’Connor, like Martin, also hit two home runs in the series finale. O’Connor went 3-for-4, also scoring three runs and knocking in three runners himself.

In the fifth inning, the Wildcats started to tee off as they hit three home runs. The first bomb came from second baseman Shintaro Inoue on a three-run home run. The very next batter, catcher Cayden Phillips, drilled one out as the ‘Cats hit back-to-back home runs for the fifth time this season.

The inning was capped off by O’Connor’s second long ball, which gave the ‘Cats their highest scoring inning of the year with nine runs. 

K-State hit six home runs in the contest, which is its first time accomplishing the feat since 2021. It is also the second day in a row that the Wildcats knocked out five or more home runs. 

“Phenomenal offensive day,” Hughes said. “When you can score in every inning that speaks volumes to the capability of your offense – top to bottom.”

Game 2

On Saturday, similarly, the ‘Cats used a big offensive performance to the tune of a 17-5 victory. 

Leading the ‘Cats again was Martin, as he homered twice in the contest, including a grand slam in the first inning and a three-run homer in the second. 

“Maximus Martin set the tone for us, obviously,” Hughes said. “He had a monster day setting the tone like he did yesterday and got our offense going.”

After three innings, the ‘Cats led 12-1 with four runs in each inning. Lefty Michael Quevedo started for K-State and went 3 2/3 innings, surrendering four runs, his season-high allowed.

“We’re playing with great energy, and that’s a difference maker in college baseball,” Hughes said. “I thought our guys did a great job controlling the energy and tempo of the game and setting the tone. Being consistent, scoring four in the first three innings is not an easy task.”

K-State’s bullpen only allowed one more run and allowed the ‘Cats to use their hot offense to extend the lead and end the game early in the seventh. 

The Wildcats won the game in the bottom of the seventh on a walk-off home run by A.J. Evasco, which was his first collegiate home run.

Other home run hitters for the ‘Cats included catcher Bear Madliak and third baseman Ty Smolinski. For Smolinski, the home run was his first career collegiate hit. 

Game 1

The closest game of the series came in the opener on Friday as the Wildcats relied on their pitching staff to get a 4-2 win.

On the mound to open the season at home for K-State was left-handed pitcher Jacob Frost. Frost went four innings and allowed two runs before departing.

Taking over for Frost were senior righty, Ty Ruhl and sophomore Blake Dean, who were nails in their innings of work. Ruhl, who got the win, gave up just one hit over 2 2/3 innings before handing the ball to Dean. 

Dean shut the door in the seventh and fired a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, striking out three batters to get the save. 

“Good thing we got solid pitching today, especially out of our bullpen,” Hughes said. “Ty Ruhl was great, as was Blake Dean. Good enough to really stop any offensive momentum from William & Mary.”

Martin got the home season started, crushing a home run over the center field wall. The run was the only run scored in the first ,but the ‘Cats added two in the second inning to grab a quick and early 3-0 lead. 

After the second though, the William & Mary pitching staff locked down the Wildcat offense as they surrendered just one more run, coming in the seventh.

The Tribe of William & Mary scored two runs in the fourth to make it a 3-2 game but failed to scratch any more runs across. William & Mary had runners on all afternoon but couldn’t get the big hit they were looking for. 

K-State travels to face the Creighton Blue Jays on Tuesday, followed by the Omaha Mavericks on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m., and Wednesday’s first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.