Bat Cats Rally Past Early Setback, Finish 2–1 in Arlington

K-State baseball continued its successful start to the season, going 2–1 this past weekend at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas. The Bat Cats dropped their first game to Auburn but responded well with impressive wins over Nebraska and Michigan.

Game one on Friday was against a top-10 ranked Auburn Tigers squad. The game featured a solid outing by James Guyette, who registered six innings pitched, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out four. K-State's offense just did not have an answer for Auburn's starter, Jake Marciano, who gave up just two hits, no runs, and recorded eight strikeouts in six innings pitched. Marciano now has 20 strikeouts in just two outings this season.

The offense was not what we had seen in Arizona on opening weekend, plating just one run on four hits. Two of those hits came from AJ Evasco, and the lone RBI went to Micah Kendrick on a pinch-hit double. However, this one outing did not impact the Cats moving forward in the weekend.

The second game of the weekend featured an exciting comeback win over Nebraska, 5–3. Carlos Vasquez went 3-for-4, driving in four runs. That included an eighth-inning hit to drive in two runs and take the lead late in the game. The Wildcat pitchers were also key in the game two victory. Donte Lewis looked much more comfortable in his second start of the season, throwing 4.2 innings while giving up three runs on five hits and striking out six batters.

Then Carson Liggett, who had a strong K-State debut last weekend out of the bullpen, came in for the remainder of the game to completely shut down the Husker batters. Liggett recorded 4.1 innings, three strikeouts, and allowed just one hit with no runs. Liggett is definitely establishing himself as a force out of the bullpen, and it will be interesting to see if that role eventually expands into starts as the season continues.

The final game brought back some offensive familiarity from opening weekend. K-State took down Michigan 10–6 on six hits, with Dee Kennedy and Vasquez both hitting home runs. The bullpen was also able to minimize the number of arms used in this game. Lincoln Sheffield threw 6.2 innings, giving up all six of Michigan's runs, though only four were earned. Cohen Feser was the only arm needed to finish the game, allowing just one hit.

The Wildcats look to continue the momentum tomorrow as they face a two-game series against Louisiana in Lafayette. There will be another quick turnaround with a three-game series in Manhattan over the coming weekend against Columbia. With the productivity K-State is getting from its pitchers, the team is well positioned for this busy week of baseball.

The first game against Auburn featured three bullpen arms, but none threw much more than an inning. The final two games required only one bullpen arm each. The Cajuns are 5–2 on the season after losing a series to Missouri State, picking up a win against Rice, and sweeping Maryland. The Cats will look to derail Louisiana's five-game winning streak tomorrow at 6 p.m. CST.