Dee Kennedy homered for the eighth time this season as Kansas State took down Wichita State 7-5 in a contested back-and-forth battle.
“Good, clean, sound win in all phases of the game,” K-State head coach Pete Hughes said. “I was very happy with it. Our guys played with great energy and played clean baseball.”
Kennedy — who now has four home runs in his last two games — homered in the third inning, which tied the game at 3-3 and was a needed answer to the Shockers as they had just hit back-to-back home runs in the top half of the inning.
The deciding runs for the Wildcats came in the sixth inning when left fielder Carlos Vasquez tripled to score AJ Evasco and was followed up by Micah Kendrick doubling to score Vasquez and give K-State the 7-5 advantage.
While the Wildcats gave up five runs over six innings to begin the game, the bullpen from the seventh on was dominant as they allowed no hits and went nine up nine down.
Working throughout the seventh and eighth innings was Robert Fortenberry, who bounced back after a rough outing last time out against Columbia, where he gave up six runs in just over an inning of work. The lefty this time struck out two batters in his two innings of work.
Getting the save for the Wildcats was Tazwell Butler, who took the ball from Fortenberry and closed the game out. Butler struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the ninth and only needed 14 pitches to get the save for K-State.
“The storyline of the game has to be the efficiency of our bullpen,” Hughes said. “Once again, those guys were lights out.”
In the first inning, Wichita State scored after a K-State error allowed the inning to continue, which the Shockers took advantage of, taking the lead 1-0. However, that lead didn’t last long as in the bottom of the first, AJ Evasco tripled to score Dee Kennedy and tie up the game 1-1.
The third inning was power-filled as Wichita State hit back-to-back home runs to reclaim its lead 3-1. However, the Shockers’ advantage didn’t last long once again, as Dee Kennedy tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a two-run shot, continuing his hot start to the season.
K-State’s third was capped off by a sacrifice fly down the right field line by Carlos Vasquez, scoring Ty Smolinski to take the lead, 4-3.
Into the fifth, the Shockers scored a run in their half, but once again, K-State matched them with a run in the bottom half to keep the lead, 5-4.
However, in the sixth inning, Wichita State scored another run in the top, sending the Wildcats to the plate tied 5-5. Instead of matching with just one run, however, K-State scored two runs on RBIs by Vasquez and Kendrick. Those runs would end up being the difference in the game as the Wildcats held on to win 7-5.
While early in the game, K-State’s pitching staff was allowing runs almost every inning, they were doing well to work out of trouble and limit the runs to just one or two per inning. The Wildcats’ bats also impressively scored a run in the bottom half of every inning that Wichita State scored a run, showing K-State’s resilience and shifting the momentum throughout the game.
K-State has now won six games in a row and has a quick turnaround against South Dakota State on Wednesday. First pitch of the game is scheduled for 6 p.m., but the Wildcats have not announced a starter for the contest yet.
