K-State Explodes Past Baylor, Eyes Arizona State Test

There were two questions I had after a bitter ending to Game 3 against Houston on Sunday: How would K-State bounce back? And could Shintaro Inoue and Carlos Vasquez keep their hot streaks going? The answers in last night’s action were clear—K-State bounced back like the team we saw in Games 1 and 2 in Houston, and yes, Inoue and Vasquez stayed hot.

The Bat Cats took their weekday game against Baylor in seven innings by a score of 13–3, exploding for seven runs in the top of the seventh to run-rule the Bears. As mentioned, Inoue stayed hot, going 2-for-4 and scoring one run, while Vasquez had a perfect 3-for-3 night with two home runs, a bases-clearing double, and seven RBIs. Kyan Lodice and Cayden Karl each added a home run as well.

In what has been a consistent story this year, the starting pitching remained strong, and limited bullpen involvement was needed. Matt Flores earned his first win of the season after pitching five innings, allowing two earned runs (three total), and walking just one batter. Aaron Arnold came in for two innings, giving up just one hit and allowing only one baserunner.

K-State will have a couple of days off before taking on Arizona State at home in what should be an exciting series. The Sun Devils are 15–5, with all of their losses coming against top-25 teams. If baseball rankings were up to me, K-State and ASU would both be ranked heading into this weekend’s matchup. Both teams have posted impressive wins and put up plenty of runs. This will be K-State’s biggest test of the season so far.

Arizona State’s Landon Hairston leads the Big 12 in batting average and OPS, while probable Game 1 starter Cole Carlon boasts a 2.77 ERA and ranks second in the conference with 40 strikeouts. The entire Sun Devil pitching staff averages over 10 strikeouts per game and has an impressive team ERA of 3.89. It will be interesting to see how K-State’s hitters perform against what is likely the toughest pitching they’ve faced so far this season.

First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. CDT tomorrow, followed by 4:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday. We’re getting into the fun part of the schedule, and I’m excited to see these two top teams in the conference battle it out!