Kansas State baseball holds off Wichita State 5-4

Whatever momentum Wichita State gained by sweeping Illinois State over the weekend disappeared against Kansas State at Tointon Family Stadium on Tuesday.

The Wildcats took advantage of inconsistent pitching and beat the Shockers 5-4.

Wichita State shuffled through a season-high 10 pitchers in the loss. It was obvious from the beginning the team was in for a rough day on the mound. Starter Keylan Killgore lasted just 1 2/3 innings. He got the hook from coach Todd Butler after walking K-State infielder Josh Ethier with the bases loaded in the second.

Pitching changes went on to become a common theme. The Shockers closed out the second with Chandler Sanburn and began the third with Willie Schwanke. Then they cycled through Tyler Jones, Adam Keller, Robby Evans, Tommy Barnhouse, Connor Lungwitz, Codi Heuer and Reagan Biechler.

“We were going to throw a lot of guys. I didn’t know that we were going to throw 10,” Butler said. “We threw a lot of guys today. That is what we did.”

The Wildcats amassed nine hits against that parade of arms and built a 5-1 lead after six innings. Their biggest inning came in the fourth when they scored three runs behind a string of hits from Cameron Thompson, Quintin Crandall, Will Brennan and Josh Rolette.

It was enough for victory.

K-State (25-20) has been on a roll. It heads for a weekend series against Oklahoma having won eight of its past 10 games.

“We are playing a little bit better baseball, obviously confidence has a lot to do with it,” K-State coach Brad Hill said. “I think the guys are playing with some confidence right now. There are still a lot of things we can be doing better, but we are feeling better about ourselves.”

Wichita State (21-23) almost turned those good vibes bad in the final innings. It made things interesting with two runs in the eighth from Jacob Katzfey and Jordan Boyer, but they couldn’t tie the score once K-State closer Jordan Floyd entered the game.

Floyd came in with two outs in eighth and earned the save, despite walking the first two batters he saw and giving up a run in the ninth. It was his 10^th save of the season.

The Shockers had chances to score the go-ahead run, but failed to lay down a sacrifice bunt or get the ball out of the infield.

“We had a chance,” Butler said. “We had runners at first and second there, we just couldn’t get a bunt down. I don’t know that we would have gotten a hit to win the game, but we gave ourselves an opportunity.”

Wichita State now turns its attention to a weekend series at Dallas Baptist.

Butler had a long chat with players he hopes will prepare them for the road trip.

“They are a good club and we play them on the road,” Butler said. “We haven’t been very good on the road. We have been good at home. We have a respectable record at home, but on the road it is not respectable. We will have to play good baseball to beat them.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2017 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Kansas State baseball holds off Wichita State 5-4."