How quickly things can change.
The Kansas State bench was flat and the momentum had disappeared. A three-run Wichita State rally in the top-half of the sixth inning had quickly stolen the life out of the K-State dugout.
What once was a comfortable three-run lead had quickly changed to a tied game.
But for Carter Jurica and the Wildcats, it took just one fastball for the game to change.
As the K-State junior dug into the batters box to lead off the bottom of the inning with the scored tied at three, Jurica backed off the plate. He knew the Shockers had been pounding the inside-half of the strike zone, and the Wildcats needed to make an adjustment.
Then, Jurica turned on the second pitch he saw.
The 0-1 pitch jumped off his bat and sailed out of Tointon Family Stadium, landing in the trees beyond the left-field wall.
With that single pitch, the momentum had shifted directly back to the Wildcat dugout and the record-breaking 4,745 fans in attendance.
Jurica's swing was all the Wildcats needed to secure the 8-3 victory over their in-state rivals Tuesday night.
"Carter [Jurica] helped us get that momentum back, thank goodness," head coach Brad Hill said. "He put a great swing on that ball, and that kind of loosened us back up a little bit."
It woke the Wildcats up from two innings of inconsistent pitching and a lack of offensive production.
"We had no momentum," Hill said. "They had basically taken all the momentum from us, and we were kind of scrambling on the mound and they are a big hit away twice from really breaking the game open."
Jurica's leadoff blast led to a five-run, game-defining inning for the Wildcats (20-3, 3-0 Big 12) and led to five runs in the bottom of the seventh, giving K-State a commanding 8-3 lead.
The Shockers were deflated.
During the inning they committed two errors on one play, watched pitching coach Brent Kemmitz explode onto the field to argue with home plate umpire Josh Schepis, and the game ultimately disappear from them.
With the lead, sophomore Matt Applegate took care of the rest.
The right-hander carried K-State through the eighth and ninth innings after ending the Shocker rally in the seventh.
He gave up just one hit in 2.2 innings of work, while striking out two Wichita State hitters to register the win and move to 1-0 on the season.
"In the first inning, struggled a little bit with my command, but I got zoned in with (catcher Daniel) Dellesaga in the second and had everything going," Applegate said.
With the win, the Wildcats secured their 20th victory of the season before heading south to resume Big 12 play in a three-game series with Texas Tech beginning Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
"It's a good win," Dellesaga said. "Anytime you can get to 20 in a season this early, it's good. We are excited, but we know there is a lot of season left."
Game notes
• With two hits on Wednesday, Nick Martini extended his Big 12-leading hitting streak to 20 games. It is the third longest in school history.
• The record-crowd of 4,745 broke the previous record set last season when 4,280 fans saw the Wildcats beat rival Kansas.
• Despite throwing four pitchers Tuesday night, the Wildcats saved their starting rotation and top two relievers for their series against Texas Tech.
Photos - Michael Schweitzer The Manhattan Mercury
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