By Chris Kutz, K-State Athletics Communications
(Photo Courtesy Kansas State Athletics)
The K-State baseball team surrendered seven extra-base hits among the 12 total safeties by Nebraska on Tuesday as the Wildcats fell for the third-straight game with a 10-4 loss at Hawks Field.
The Wildcats (18-21) trailed early, allowing seven runs between the second and fourth innings, and were not able to plate their first run off the Huskers (30-13) until the sixth. The loss gives the season series to Nebraska, which has beaten K-State three games in a row dating back to April 15, 2014.
The first three pitchers used by K-State surrendered the bulk of the 10 runs, with starter Levi MaVorhis taking the loss after allowing three runs on one hit and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Mark Biesma, who allowed two of MaVorhis’ runners to score when he entered with the bases loaded in the second, surrendered two runs in one inning pitched while Jackson Douglas was responsible for two runs on three hits in two innings.
Nebraska, which had six extra-base hits among its first seven hits in the game, had a pair of run-producing doubles in the second, two solo home runs in the third and two more RBI doubles in the fourth.
“The walks by MaVorhis hurt us, and unfortunately, we just left some pitches up for [Nebraska],” said K-State head coach Brad Hill. “Both Jackson [Douglas] and Mark Biesma left pitches up, and they got them. It hurt us.”
The K-State offense stranded nine, including two in the fourth when the Wildcats put the first two batters on with no outs after a walk by Shane Conlon and a single by Max Brown. The next three batters, though, went down in order as the Wildcats, who trailed 5-0 in the top of the fourth, had four of their nine left on stranded in scoring position.
“We had first and second and no outs [in the fourth]and then we had two bad at-bats in a row,” said Hill. “Maybe, we had some momentum to at least put ourselves back in position. It took us right of it.”
Steve Serratore had two of K-State’s eight hits in the game, including an RBI single in the sixth to score the Wildcats’ first run. The redshirt sophomore drove in Tyler Wolfe, who led off the frame with his first career triple, to make it 7-1 Nebraska, and then later added a single in K-State’s three-run eighth. The multi-hit effort was Serratore’s third in his last four games with an at-bat and seventh total of the season.
K-State was forced to answer with three runs in the eighth after Nebraska added three runs in the seventh, with the help of four hits, off Mitch Plassmeyer. The Wildcats were able to quickly answer, though, by loading the bases three times to score the three runs. Taylor Anderson drove in the inning’s first run with a sacrifice fly that scored Wolfe while Sam Chadick came through with his first career RBIs on a two-out single that drove in Conlon and Serratore to make it 10-4 Nebraska.
Conlon reached base four times by going 1-for-2 and drawing all three of K-State’s walks.
In addition to Serratore, Alex Bee notched a multi-hit game, his first since February 20, by going 2-for-4.
Nebraska starting pitcher Garett King threw four shutout innings in a scheduled short start to earn his fourth win of the season.
K-State continues its stint on the road with a three-game series at Baylor this weekend. First pitch of game one on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.