Kansas State baseball exploded for six runs in the first inning en route to 18 hits in a 13-4 victory over BYU at the Cougars’ Miller Park on Saturday.
“Proud of our fight to win the last two on the road for a series win,” head coach Pete Hughes said to K-State Athletics. “Our top four hitters being on base 16 times can really make for a powerful offensive day.”
After dropping the series opener, the Wildcats (28-20, 14-10 Big 12) came back to win the series, outscoring the Cougars, 31-8, in the final two games to capture their second road series of the season and seventh overall. The win on Saturday snapped a 10-game road losing streak for the Wildcats.
“Loved our energy the last two days,” Hughes said. “We played with immediate urgency today to set the tone right from the first pitch. Think our guys are seeing the finish line and understand how important these last series are for our program.”
Lincoln Sheffield picked up his sixth win at K-State to improve to 6-4 on the year, after holding the Cougars (22-23, 7-17 Big 12) to four runs (three earned). The senior left-hander capped his 12th start with six strikeouts and scattered seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.
James Guyette closed the game in relief of Sheffield, firing 3 1/3 scoreless innings and allowing just two hits with five strikeouts.
“Lincoln did a great job versus a scary BYU offense,” Hughes said. “He kept them off balance all day and allowed us to build a lead. Guyette was sharp to finish the game.”
The Wildcats sent 21 players to the plate over the first three innings, totaling nine runs during the stretch, while the first four hitters combined to go 11-for-19 with seven runs batted in.
Seven different players contributed a hit, paced by a four-hit day from Maximus Martin, while Seth Dardar, Keegan O’Connor, and AJ Evasco each had three. A native of Edgewater Park, N.J., Martin ended the day going 4-for-5 with four RBI and scoring three runs, and was shy a triple of hitting for the cycle.
Martin and Evasco each homered, bringing the Wildcats season total to 86, which is three short of tying the program record set in 2021 (89).
K-State picked up where it left off in Game 2, sending 10 to the plate and spotting BYU starter Jaden Harris for six runs in the opening frame. Four consecutive hitters reached base, opening the game with a 2-0 lead before a triple from David Bishop and two-run homer by Evasco lengthened the lead to six.
The Wildcats tacked on a pair of runs in the second inning, as O’Connor drove in his eighth RBI of the series followed by a shot to first by Sam Flores that scored Martin from third.
BYU tagged Sheffield for a run in the second, but the lefty worked out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
With one out in the third, reliever Jake Porter issued a walk to Cayden Phillips until Dee Kennedy recorded his second hit of the game to force the Cougars’ second pitching change, bringing Ashton Johnson to the mound. Johnson forced a pop up to record the second out, but Martin doubled into right field to make it 9-0.
Leading 9-3 in the sixth, Martin barreled a two-run homer 393-feet to left field – his 14th blast of the year – to stretch the Cats’ lead to eight to put the game away.
