Wichita State’s Luke Ritter hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Shockers a 3-2 walk-off victory over Kansas State Tuesday night at Eck Stadium.
According to a release from K-State, Ritter drove in all three runs for Wichita State (26-26) and four Shocker pitchers combined to keep K-State (27-25) scoreless over the final seven innings as the teams split the season series. K-State had three hits and five baserunners after the second inning when it held a 2-0 lead.
In the game, K-State stranded nine baserunners and was 1-for-9 (.111) with runners in scoring position. Five of the six Wildcat hits came with two outs, as the Cats got their leadoff man on in just one inning.
Tyler Eckberg (0-3) was tagged for the loss after allowing Ritter’s leadoff home run in the ninth inning. The freshman reliever went an inning plus, giving up two hits with a strikeout.
WSU’s Chandler Sanburn (4-3) was credited with the win after a hitless ninth inning for the Shockers, with one walk and one strikeout.
K-State got a pair of two-outs hits – a single from Cameron Thompson followed by Jake Scudder’s double – to score the game’s first run in the top of the first inning. Scudder drove in his conference-best 58th run of the season.
WSU starter Kelan Killgore gave up back-to-back walks in the second inning to Josh Rolette and Kyle Barfield and, two batters later, Will Brennan singled up the middle to add a run to the Cats’ lead. Following a two-out walk of Wodtke to load the bases, Killgore’s day was finished after recording just five outs. Shocker reliever Adam Keller got out of the jam on one pitch by inducing an inning-ending groundout by Thompson.
Keller held K-State scoreless over the next 4 1/3 innings and, at one point, retired nine straight Wildcats. Keller finished with three strikeouts, no walks and two hits allowed.
K-State starting pitcher Hudson Treu tossed two perfect innings before Caleb Littlejim took over in the third. In the fourth, Littlejim gave up a leadoff single to Greyson Jenista and after getting an out, was lifted for Jared Marolf. Marolf walked the first two batters he faced on eight straight pitches before Ritter knocked a two-run single to tie the game after four innings.
In the eighth, Quintin Crandall doubled off WSU’s Connor Lungwitz with one out. Crandall was the only Wildcat to get a hit off Lungwitz over an inning and a third and was the first baserunner to reach second base since the third inning. Reagan Biechler relieved Lungwitz and set down the next two K-State hitters he faced to keep the game tied.
Hanz Harker led off the ninth inning with a walk, and after Josh Ethier dropped a sacrifice bunt and an eventual wild pitch, stood at third base with two outs but was unable to cross home plate.
Freshman Tyler McKay tossed two shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts while fellow freshman Luke Hauswirth threw a scoreless fifth inning.
Brennan extended his season-long on-base streak to 20 games as he went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Six different Wildcats recorded a hit in the game with Scudder, Crandall and Steve Serratore registering the only extra-base hits in the game for K-State.
K-State heads to Baylor for its final conference series of the season beginning Thursday. Game one is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.
