Game 1

On a beautiful sunny day at Tointon Family Stadium, the Kansas State Wildcats held their home opener against Columbia University. Due to inclement weather, the scheduled game on Sunday was moved to be played along with the opening game for the ‘Cats, turning the day into a doubleheader. 

In the first game against the Lions, K-State would battle but fall one run short, 9-8. 

It would be four innings before the Wildcats got on the board, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth. AJ Evasco would let one rip over the fence — his first home run of the season — going 420 feet and scoring Dee Kennedy, who was on first base with a walk.

K-State would add onto their 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Kennedy hit a triple to right field, sending two home — Shintaro Inoue, along with Grant Gallagher. Continuing to find his rhythm, Evasco doubled down the left field line, allowing Kennedy to score before the inning ended.

Columbia’s Owen Estabrook had a hot stick in his hand as he hit his third home run of the season in the top of the sixth, scoring a Lion from first base to put Columbia within three, 5-2. But the Wildcats wouldn’t allow more runs, ending the half inning and getting the bats going again on offense. 

On two outs, Kennedy hit a single to the left side of the infield, scoring Gallagher from second base, and making the score 6-2 before the Lions closed the inning.

 In the top of the seventh inning, Columbia’s Ben Fishel would start a five-run Lions rally with an infield single. With K-State’s Robert Fortenberry having a hard time on the mound, a pitching change occurred in the middle of the half-inning, where Adan Longoria replaced Fortenberry. After several hits and two walks, another pitching change was made from Longoria to Cole Wisenbaker, who finished out the rest of the inning.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, Columbia led by one, 7-6. Inoue would ground out to second, allowing Donte Lewis to score, and Robby Bolin to advance intoscoring position. Then, with two outs, Gallagher hit a single through the left side, scoring Bolin for an 8-7 K-State lead.

Despite the Wildcats’ attempt to hold off the Lions, Estabrook found some green in left center, sending Jackson Brewer and Cole Fellows home and inevitably giving Columbia the win in game one.

Game 2

Inning by inning, the second matchup had Wildcat fans on the edge of their seats until the very end. 

Starting on the mound was right-handed pitcher Carson Liggett, but he was only able to go for one inning with one hit and one run over five batters.

The next 4.1 innings were split between Aaron Arnold and Miles Smith. Across 2.2 innings, Arnold had four strikeouts and two hits, allowing two runs. Smith threw 2.1 innings with three hits and two strikeouts.

Columbia was first on the board, with a silent three innings before Jimmy Chadwell scored Estabrook on a single through the left side.

To wrap up the last three innings, the right-handed Wildcat Billy Eich had zero hits, two strikeouts and two walks on 11 batters faced.

“It was nice to see those guys come in their first high-leverage situation in our programs, and have success and pick up a big win for our team today,” K-State head coach Pete Hughes said.

The Wildcats would come from behind during the bottom of the eighth inning. With two on, one out and Gallagher at the plate, he connected with a pitch, sending it to left center and reaching second base. Bear Madliak, along with Bolin scored on the double, and K-State took the lead by one, 2-1. 

While the Lions got the other two outs to end the inning, the Wildcats switched sides, knowing they had business to take care of — which they did. 

After reaching a full count and walking a batter, the next Columbia hitter was able to lay down a sacrifice bunt to get his teammate into scoring position. On the next batter, Eich locked in, as the next Lion batter flied out to right.  Continuing on his streak, Eich finished the game after delivering a strikeout upon the batter’s 1-2 count to seal the win. 

“I love [the] resiliency,” Hughes said. “I love bouncing back after a loss. … They hung in there, and when they had a chance to win a game, they did. They executed.” 

The Wildcats play at 1 p.m. Feb. 28 at Tointon Family Stadium to wrap up their series against Columbia.