Senior outfielder Tanner Witt set a new career high with five hits including his first home run in three years along with a double, and finished the game on the mound in a 9-1 victory over Nebraska on Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium. The Cats won their second straight game over the Huskers in the last eight days, as K-State claimed a 10-8 triumph last Tuesday.
The first meeting between the two teams was a see-saw affair, but Witt touched off a Wildcat rout this time around with a first inning double. He came in to score on Jared King’s single for K-State’s first run. In his next at-bat, Witt connected on a solo blast to left field in the bottom of the 3rd, and Jon Davis singled to left, scoring King for a 3-0 lead. Witt came thru with singles in each of his last three at-bats, knocking in a run in the fourth, and two more in the seventh. He wound up with four RBI’s and three runs scored. Davis and R.J. Santigate also had multi-hit efforts for the Cats.
Blake McFadden (2-1) struck out two and gave up just one hit in three innings of work. Nate Williams came out of the bullpen against Nebraska after giving up three runs on two hits and walking two in just one third of an inning on Saturday at Baylor. Williams didn’t walk any Huskers in three innings of work, surrendering an unearned run on a hit with two strikeouts. K-State coach Brad Hill says McFadden earned the start this Sunday against Texas Tech, while Williams will continue to pitch out of the bullpen. After Levi MaVorhis and Jake Matthys eached contributed a scoreless inning before Witt struck out one Husker and gave up no hits in the top of the ninth.
Tyler King (1-1) took the loss for Nebraska, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts. The Huskers managed just five hits off K-State pitching.
K-State (19-10) will host Omaha on Wednesday night at Tointon Family Stadium with a 6:35pm first pitch. The BD4 Distributing pregame show begins at 6:00 on 1350kman.com.
