ARLINGTON, Texas (Kansas State Athletics) – K-State turned a seven-run deficit into two after a five-run eighth, but the late-inning rally fell short on Friday, as No. 10 Arizona won the season opener 8-6 to begin the State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field.
K-State (0-1), trailing 8-1 after seven and a half innings, loaded the bases in the eighth and got a two-run single from Orlando Salinas, Jr. After a hit by pitch, walk and a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, Dylan Phillips stepped into the batter’s box and represented the go-ahead run.
Phillips, the Big 12’s active leader in career home runs, drove a 1-0 pitch to straightaway center field that was caught at the foot of the wall at the 407-foot sign by Arizona center fielder Mac Bingham.
“I always judge my teams by how they react when they’re up or down five, six runs,” said head coach Pete Hughes. “And we got a lot of fight in our team right there and if that’s who we are, and that is who we are, we are going to win a lot of games this year. We put ourselves in position to win a game down seven runs late, that was an awesome effort.
“Now we can’t put ourselves in those situations, we have to play better baseball up until the eighth inning and be a little more opportunistic. We need to make pitches, we need to put people away and we need do a better job running the bases. In a nutshell, be more fundamentally sound. But to have the character we had to give ourselves a chance to win is something that I’ll take as a positive.”
Dominic Johnson laced an RBI double down the left field line in the third, giving K-State its first run of the season after falling behind 3-0. Johnson, in his Wildcat debut, went 2-for-4 with two RBI from the leadoff spot.
Arizona owned a 4-1 edge as the game went to the bottom of the sixth, Cole Johnson and Phillips each singled to lead off the frame and after a Josh Nicoloff walk, K-State had the bases full with one out. Arizona reliever Anthony Susac struck out back-to-back hitters to end the threat.
In the next half inning UA catcher Daniel Susac delivered a two-run, two-out double as the Arizona lead swelled to five.
“If you look at the storyline going into the eighth inning – bases loaded, we didn’t get the big hit and they did,” added Hughes. “Susac gets that big hit down the line to stretch the lead out for them.”
K-State went 5-for-22 (.227) with runners on base and went hitless (0-for-7) with two outs. Additionally, 10 of the team’s 12 strikeouts came with runners on base.
“We swung at a lot of balls, so we’ve got to be a little more disciplined,” stated Hughes. “Day one, is that a surprise? No, it’s not. Guys have adrenaline going and it comes from a good place because they want to play well so bad. Sometimes that doesn’t lead to the most disciplined at-bats. We’ll get settled in tomorrow.”
Making his K-State debut, junior right-hander Blake Adams went six innings in the start. Adams struck out eight without issuing a walk, scattering seven hits with four earned runs allowed.
“He threw a lot of strikes and didn’t beat himself,” Hughes said of Adams’ start. “He would love to have a couple of those pitches back, but I was pleased with his outing. He was tough, he competed, he bounced back after home runs and damage controlled some innings that could’ve spiraled out of control. We didn’t give him any run support either, so he was pitching with pressure the whole night. I was happy with his outing.”
Four Wildcats produced two-hit games, including three newcomers in Kaelen Culpepper, Dominic Johnson and Cash Rugely. Salinas, also a newcomer, came off the bench to drive in a pair while Culpepper drove in a run in the eighth.
Also making his first appearance in a K-State uniform, freshman Tyson Neighbors struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth, keeping the contest a two-run game going to the bottom of the ninth.
Four K-State pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts against four walks.
