Emily Lenk
Shortstop Maximus Martin hits the ball as the Wildcats defeated Texas Tech 5-4 on March 30 at Tointon Family Stadium.
Kansas State baseball hit the road to face Northeastern in a two-game series, falling 11-4 and 5-3 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A pair of losses to Northeastern (27-9), who will most likely be an NCAA tournament team, won’t take a large toll on K-State’s RPI. However, it’s still two games the Wildcats would have liked to win.
“I thought we pitched well enough to win today, but unfortunately, we didn’t play well enough to win,” head coach Pete Hughes said to K-State Athletics on Wednesday. “We created opportunities but didn’t take advantage of them. We also created opportunities for the other team to score. That was the difference in the game.”
In Game 1, it looked like a powerful lineup was back for K-State, scoring three runs in the first inning on home runs from Seth Dardar and Keegan O’Connor. However, after the first, the Wildcats only scored one more run while Northeastern took advantage of some costly ‘Cats errors.
K-State committed three errors in the game, giving Northeastern more chances to put runs on the board, which it did as Northeastern scored eight runs in the first four innings and put K-State on its back early.
“You have to play catch, take care of the baseball, and situationally hit to win games at our level. We did none of these things today,” Hughes said. “Our short-term goal is to become a more consistent product and thrive on doing the little things all the time.”
The ‘Cats scored another run in the sixth but were shut down after that as they dropped the opening game 11-4.
In Game 2, Northeastern was the one that got out to an early lead. K-State caught NU over the next few innings, making it a tie game at 3-3 in the third inning. However, in the bottom half of the third Northeastern took the lead back at 4-3.
After the third inning, a pitchers’ duel unfolded with both teams playing great defense, keeping the game at 4-3. In the eighth inning, it looked like Keegan O’Connor tied the game at four with a home run, but it was robbed by Northeastern, keeping the deficit at one.
Northeastern scored another run in the eighth, and the Wildcats were unable to find a rally in the ninth, losing the game 5-3. In the loss, the Wildcats were only able to record six hits and recorded three errors for the second game in a row.
The Wildcats now turn their attention to a big series against in-state rival Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown with massive implications in the Big 12 standings. First pitch will take place at 6 p.m. Friday from Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.