On a cloudy day with snow showers falling steadily, K-State overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a four-run third inning en route to a 6-3 snow-shortened seven inning victory over Bethune-Cookman on Saturday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium. Matt Wivinis (4-0) settled down after surrendering two runs on three hits in the first inning, and allowed just another run on three hits, with five strikeouts to earn the complete game win.
The Wildcats were in aided by three B-CU errors in the third. An infield single, a fielding error and a walk loaded the bases with one out before RJ Santigate hit a ground ball toward the right-side of the infield. Santigate beat out a throw from first baseman Anthony Stokes to pitcher Scott Garner, but the ball sailed towards the first-base dugout as two K-State runs scored. Backing up the wild throw, Bethune-Cookman catcher Chris Biocic attempted to throw out Santigate at second base, but his errant throw wound up in center field as another run scored and Santigate ended up at third. Two batters later, Santigate scored on a balk to give the Cats a 4-2 lead.
In what was truly a team effort, K-State (15-8) spread out their eight hits among all but one of their starters, and no knocked in or scored more than a single run as well. Josh Johnson led the Bethune-Cookman (12-14) attack with two hits, a run and an RBI. Scott Garner (2-3) took the loss for B-C, giving up three earned runs over 5 1/3 innings on eight hits and four walks. He did strike out four K-State batters.
K-State will host Nebraska on Tuesday night at 6:30pm in the final rung of a 19-game homestand at Tointon Family Stadium. The BD4 Distributing pregame show begins at 6:00 on SportsRadio 1350 KMAN.
