Heading into a series against the Missouri Tigers, Brad Hill's squad was turning heads in the Big 12 Conference. But the youth of Hill's team, a factor that many believed would be the Achilles' heel of the club, was present at Tointon Family Stadium this weekend as the Wildcats dropped two of three games to the Tigers.
In Friday's series opener, it seemed as though the Wildcats would extend their four-game losing streak as they received yet another stellar performance from junior pitcher A.J. Morris. Morris, who came into the series leading the nation with nine wins, threw eight scoreless innings before giving up consecutive base hits.
Missouri outfielder Aaron Seene led off the inning with a double to right center field, followed by an infield single off Morris' glove by outfielder Greg Folgia.
"I think [Morris] competed extremely well. But it's the same thing with him in the ninth inning, he got the slider up and they just hit him," said head coach Brad Hill.
Following a mound visit by Hill, sophomore Thomas Rooke was called in from the bullpen. Rooke, who has been dependable for most of the season, came in to face catcher Trevor Coleman. Rooke was able to keep Coleman off balance with the use of off-speed pitches, working the count to 2-2. Then Rooke left a change-up out over the plate, and Coleman powered a home run over the left-field fence, scoring himself and two others.
The three-run blast was followed by a solo home run by Kyle Mach to give the Tigers a sudden 4-2 lead, silencing the 3,008 fans in attendance.
"We made some mistakes," Hill said. "We made some good pitches early on Coleman and we just didn't get that last one down — it stayed up and he handled it. It's just one of those things. [Rooke] usually doesn't make those mistakes but he did tonight."
The Wildcats were able to respond with some noise of their own. Four consecutive singles produced a run for the Wildcats, cutting the Tiger lead to one run. Yet a failed squeeze attempt by Adam Muenster resulted in the second out of the inning. Muenster then grounded out to second base, ending the game.
"I thought we had a lot of competitive at-bats; we put ourselves in a spot to maybe win that ball game, but we just came up one short," Hill said.
Hill said he felt his team would come out ready to compete for the second game. After two innings Saturday, it seemed his prediction was coming true as the Wildcats jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead.
Yet the pitching staff was unable to keep the lead as K-State gave up 10 free bases throughout the game through walks and hit batters. Missouri's offense came alive in the fourth inning as the Tigers scored five runs on three hits.
"That was a key factor," Hill said of the walks. "Any time you have more runs than hits, there is probably something not going right with [your pitchers] throwing strikes."
The Wildcats were able to avoid a sweep on Sunday as they took advantage of five errors committed by the Tigers. The Wildcats offense came alive as K-State defeated Missouri, 11-5. K-State recorded 10 hits and scored in seven of the eight innings they headed to the plate.
With one win in the series, the No. 21 Wildcats improved to 29-11 overall and 8-7 in the Big 12. While the Wildcats did lose the series to Missouri, they remained in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big 12.
"That's the way this conference is," said first baseman Justin Bloxom. "Playing in the Big 12, it's a tough conference — one of the best in the country. That's just the way it falls. Sometime you have a bad weekend, sometimes stuff doesn't go your way and you just have to bounce back."
K-State returns to action Friday as the Wildcats travel to Austin, Texas, to face the No. 9 Texas Longhorns in a weekend series to face the Big 12 leaders.
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