FRISCO, Texas - Kansas State University opened up day two of the Frisco College Baseball Classic with a 14-3 win over Sam Houston State University. Kansas State, who lost to Louisiana State University the night before, moves to 1-1 in Frisco and 5-5 on the season.
Junior Devin Bennett started for the Bearkats, working through early trouble but exiting after four innings. Bennett allowed five runs on four hits, four walks, and an error. Freshman Tate Hickman took over in the fifth but was later pulled in the seventh. Sophomore Brock Rod and junior Cam Diaz closed the game out for the Bearkats, combining 2.2 innings, allowing six runs on six hits.
Junior left-hander Michael Quevedo got the start and delivered a solid outing for the Wildcats, pitching five innings and allowing two runs on four hits and three walks. Freshman Donte Lewis replaced Quevedo in the sixth, lasting two innings while giving up one run on one hit. Senior Ty Ruhl closed the game out for the Wildcats, coming on to replace Lewis in the eighth.
Sam Houston head coach Jay Sirianni said, “This team is kind of in a learning curve right now, a steep one. We got to find a way to get better,” after the nine run loss.
The Wildcats struck first in the second inning when sophomore Nick English and freshman AJ Evasco drew walks, and both advanced on a wild pitch. Junior Maximus Martin then reached on an error by the shortstop, scoring English and Evasco to give Kansas State a 2-0 lead. Junior Kyan Lodice followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Martin and extending the lead to 3-0. The Wildcats added another run when junior Shintaro Inoue singled, stole second, and forced a pickle that allowed Lodice to score, making it 4-0.
Sam Houston responded in the third with a rally of their own. Freshman Parker Blackman led off with a bunt single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on senior Brady Christensen’s single through the left side. Senior Hunter Autrey, who walked and stole second, also came home on the play, cutting the deficit to 4-2.
Half an inning later, Kansas State added to their lead. Lodice worked a two-out walk, advanced to third on Inoue’s single, and scored on a pick-off error at first base, pushing the lead to 5-2. The error on the pickoff was the Bearkats first of two for the game.
The Wildcats broke the game open in the seventh after sophomore Dee Kennedy singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Evasco’s grounder to second. Martin followed with a two-run single through the left side, extending the lead to 8-2. Senior Keegan O’Connor capped off the explosive inning with a two-run homer to the Home Run Terrace in left field, making it 10-2.
When asked about the unstoppable seventh inning and if anything led to that, Kansas State’s head coach Pete Hughes said, “It was just the flow of the game. We got some traffic on the bases and anytime you can do that you’ll get them out of rhythm and . You know, Sam Houston is a traditional winner. I have a losing record against Sam Houston so I have a tremendous amount of respect for them,”.
Sam Houston would go on to add a run in the seventh when Autrey flew out to the right fielder, scoring sophomore Addison Smith, but the Wildcat lead proved too much.
With the commanding lead and looking to add even more, Wildcat senior David Bishop started the eighth inning off with a single, eventually scoring on Evasco's single. Freshman Ty Smolinski flew out to left to score another to end the eighth, pushing their lead to 12-3.
Lodice and Inoue decided the nine-run lead heading into the ninth inning wasn’t enough, so they hit back-to-back solo home runs, putting the final nail in the coffin. Lodice and Inoue both went 3-5 at the plate, with Lodice batting in two runners.
Kansas State will open up the final day of the Frisco Classic when they play the University of Nebraska–Lincoln tomorrow at noon, while Sam Houston plays LSU at 4p.m.
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