By Chris Kutz, K-State Athletics Communications
Paced by a career-high five RBIs from Tyler Moore and season-highs in runs and hits by the entire Wildcat offense, the K-State baseball team beat Santa Clara, 17-5, on Saturday in game two of the three-game series at Tointon Family Stadium.
Moore was one of nine different Wildcats (6-7) with an RBI in the offensive onslaught, giving K-State its most runs in a game since also scoring 17 against Air Force on March 18, 2014. In addition to Moore, three other Wildcats tallied multiple RBIs, with Ethan Klosterboer, Danny Krause and Dominic Thornton registering two apiece.
The five RBIs by Moore were the most by a Wildcat since March 26, 2013 when Ross Kivett also had five against Nebraska.
“The two-out hits and two-out RBIs were once again big for us,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill, after Friday’s game saw K-State drive in all four of its runs with two outs. “It was a tremendous job by our guys jumping on them in the first. We have a really good approach going right now, understanding that we need to cut down the swing a little bit in two-out RBI situations.”
K-State used the help of 14 hits to plate the 17 runs against the Broncos (7-7), its most hits in a contest since May 6, 2014 at Wichita State. Ten Wildcats had at least one hit while Clayton Dalrymple, Moore, Steve Serratore and Tyler Wolfe each tallied two. For Dalrymple, it was his third multi-hit game in the last five contests as he is hitting .444 (8-for-18) since February 28 at Cal.
While starting pitcher Colton Kalmus and reliever Brandon Courville each allowed two runs in their two innings of work, the K-State pitching staff was led by sophomore Jordan Floyd, who earned the winning decision after allowing just one hit and one walk in his four innings pitched. The southpaw also struck out a career-high two.
“(Floyd) was really sharp today,” said Hill. “We have talked about relievers coming in and giving us some zeros on the scoreboard and establishing themselves in the first inning, and I thought he did a great job of doing that today.”
K-State scored its first seven runs over the first three innings, including three in the first and two in the second and third. Krause got things started when he hit a two-out, two-run single in the first, which was immediately followed by an RBI single by Moore that scored Krause, who stole second after his single. In the second, Max Brown struck out swinging but reached on a wild pitch, which was capitalized on by Wolfe with a triple into right-center field. Wolfe subsequently scored on another wild pitch by Santa Clara starting pitcher Steven Wilson, who took the losing decision. K-State increased its lead to five runs, 7-2, when Moore executed a safety squeeze that brought home Shane Conlon from third and Serratore from second.
Moore struck for his second homer of the year in the sixth, igniting a three-run frame for the Wildcats. Moore’s roundtripper, which is the second overall for the Wildcat offense this season, was one of two extra-base hits in the inning as Carter Yagi drove in Jake Wodtke with a triple into right-center field. The next batter, Dalrymple, plated Yagi with a single into left that made it 10-4 K-State.
K-State broke out for its highest-scoring inning of the season in the seventh when it scored seven runs and did not register an out until the ninth batter of the frame. In total, 13 Wildcats went to the plate and recorded four hits, four walks and two hit by pitches. Pinch-hitters Thornton and Klosterboer each had two-run base hits, with Thornton’s being a double off the right field wall, while Moore was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to notch his fifth RBI. Keith Browning (sac fly) and Wodtke (single) also had RBIs in the inning.
The Wildcats will aim for their first sweep of 2015 on Sunday when right-hander Corey Fischer toes the rubber and leads K-State against opposing starting pitcher Kevin George.
