On a mostly clear, crisp 77-degree night, the stadium lights beaming onto the field signified the stage was set for No. 11 Kansas State to compete in the Big 12 Tournament. Hosted in Surprise, Ariz., the Wildcats matched up against No. 10 Utah, looking to regain consistency after a series loss against UCF last weekend.
Despite both teams’ readiness, neither team got on the board until the bottom of the fifth.
Utah found its rhythm in the box, as players timed K-State’s righty, James Guyette. Two singles, a double and a Wildcat fielding error allowed the Utes to gain control 3-0. With a strikeout during the opening frame, Guyette became the fifth player in K-State history to strikeout 100+ in a season
“Proud of our guys, we’ve had a disappointing year, and we battled through a lot,” K-State head coach Pete Hughes said. “We could have shut it down after going down three runs early, but we got right back in and answered and kept answering. Then, we built the lead, sustained the lead, and won a ball game.”
The purple and white quickly followed suit. As the Utes made their fourth pitching change out of eight for the night, K-State remained diligent in the box as Bear Madliak walked on a 3-1 count. Not second-guessing for an instant, AJ Evasco connected on a 411ft two-run homer on the first pitch of his at-bat, putting the Wildcats within one, 3-2.
Since both teams found momentum, the game’s outcome was dependent on who would capitalize on it. After K-State’s two-run inning in the sixth, Aaron Arnold shut down the Utes during the bottom of the inning, with help from his fielding crew.
The ‘Cats continued their scoring splurge, putting up three more runs during the seventh. Dee Kennedy hit a triple to right-center, scoring Shintaro Inoue from first base. Then, finding a gap in shallow right field, Kyan Lodice gave K-State the lead 4-3. Adding onto the hits to run ratio, Lodice scored off a Madliak sac fly.
The Utes didn’t allow the Wildcats much time with the lead, however, as they came back to have a two-run bottom of the seventh. Utah’s Luke Jacobs homered 408ft deep to right field, on a full count from Arnold. After a K-State pitching change from Arnold to Lincoln Sheffield, a sac fly led to a scored run, which tied the game, 5-5.
Going into the eighth, the Wildcats knew they had to handle business — which they did. Four runs on five hits and a Utah error provided access for K-State to take charge and take the lead.
In efforts to pick Carlos Vasquez off at third base, a Utah throwing error allowed Vasquez and the Wildcats to take back control 6-5.
Continuing the onslaught, Kennedy singled through the left side, sending Cadyn Karl home for an RBI and a 7-5 lead. Stepping up to the plate, Ty Smolinski added two more for K-State on a two-RBI single — scoring Kennedy along with Lodice from second base. The two-base hit sealed the Wildcats’ 9-5 win over Utah and moved K-State on to the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.
In the Utes’ final efforts, they made a pitching change, where Utah completed the eighth inning with a groundout from Madliak.
The remaining inning and a half was quiet for both teams as they didn’t record any runs, hits, errors or batters left on base except for one K-State batter in the top of the ninth.
Sheffield took the win for the Wildcats, facing nine batters across 2.2 innings, but had no hits, runs or strikeouts and walked one. He recorded his eighth win of the season, marking the most victories by a senior in K-State history. Sheffield becomes the thirteenth pitcher in K-State history to reach 15 career wins and is the eleventh Wildcat to register eight or more in a single season.
Despite not getting the win in his column, Guyette had a major investment in the game as well. Across five innings, Guyette struck out six batters, allowing eight hits and three runs.
“We had some gutty performances, and Lincoln Sheffield, coming off three days’ rest and finished that game, and an extended outing out of the pen showed his toughness and grit,” Hughes said. “James Guyette wasn’t great, but he was certainly good enough to keep a talented offense at bay. Those guys can hit, they hit over .300 for the entire year, they’re a dangerous offense. So good team win, we needed it, we got to get some momentum going.”
As the No. 11 seed, K-State will face off against No. 7 TCU in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. First pitch set for 10 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. MST on Wednesday, May 20. This matchup will be game four in the tournament and will be broadcast on ESPN+ and on the K-State Sports Network.
