The Kansas State Wildcats have gotten used to battling back from huge deficits in the month of May and winning. It started on May 11 in Lawrence when the Bat Cats scored nine unanswered runs and won the game after trailing arch-rival Kansas 6-0. They overcame a 4-0 Oklahoma lead in the sixth inning on May 17 to win the Big 12 Championship in the bottom of the ninth inning. As recently as Friday, K-State found itself trailing 5-0 after three innings and came from behind three times before winning 13-9.
However, when you live on the edge as much as K-State has lately eventually your luck is going to run out, which it did Saturday afternoon at Chickasaw Brick Town Ballpark in Oklahoma in the third pool play game of the Big 12 Baseball Tournament. The Bat Cats were down to their last out in the ninth and tenth innings before tying the game both times however, the Sooners were able to hang on in the 11th inning stranding three Wildcats on base in a 7-6 victory that sends OU to Sunday’s Championship Game.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three and a half innings before K-State got on the board when Ross Kivett was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. OU quickly answered to lead 5-1 and that lead stood up until the bottom of the ninth when the Wildcats came off the mat yet again to score four runs. The final two runs were off the bat of Mitch Meyer who hit a two-out, two-strike two-run single to tie the score. The inning ended when Jon Davis was thrown out at third but Shane Conlan had scored the tying run before the third out was recorded sending the game to extra frames.
After Oklahoma regained the lead in the top of the tenth inning, K-State answered again with two out when Kivett hit an run-scoring single to left. The Sooners got a single tally in the top of the 11th inning but the Cats loaded the bases with just one out. However, Sooner relief pitcher Kyle Hayes struck out Meyer and Alex Bee swinging to end the game.
Kansas State (41-17) sees its tournament run end with a pool play record of 2-1. Oklahoma at 3-0 will play either Kansas, TCU or West Virginia in Sunday’s Championship Game which will award the Big 12’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals which begin next weekend. K-State, already assured of appearing in its fourth tourney in the last five years and with a very good chance to host a Regional for the first time will find out it’s destination and opponents by midday on Monday.
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