Friday: K-State 4 William & Mary 2
Right-handers Ty Ruhl and Blake Dean combined for five scoreless innings to help lead K-State to a 4-2 victory over William & Mary in its home opener Friday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium.
Ruhl (1-1) picked up the win in relief of starter Jacob Frost, scattering just one hit over 2 2/3 innings before handing the ball over to Blake Dean, who fired a scoreless eighth and ninth with three strikeouts to earn the save.
The Wildcats (7-5) scored three of their four runs in the first and second innings, highlighted by a leadoff solo home run from Maximus Martin. The Big 12 Player of the Week homered for the second consecutive game and became the first player to send out a leadoff home run to open a game since Brendan Jones in 2024.
K-State’s starter Jacob Frost held William & Mary (4-9), a team that entered Friday’s contest averaging 10.3 runs per game, to two earned runs on three hits in his four innings of work. The senior left-hander finished his third start of the year with five strikeouts and walked two.
Offensively, the Wildcats registered seven hits in the opener led by a two-hit day from Kyan Lodice while Dee Kennedy drove in a game-leading two runs batted in.
Saturday: K-State 17 William & Mary 5 (7 Innings)
K-State’s five home runs, led by Maximus Martin’s grand slam in the first inning, powered K-State to a 17-5 walk-off, run-rule victory over William and Mary at Tointon Family Stadium to clinch the weekend series on Saturday.
K-State (8-5) tallied season-highs in runs and extra-base hits (8) on its way to winning the first weekend series of the season. Four different Wildcats turned in multi-hit efforts and four carded multiple RBI. The Cats scored multiple runs in four separate frames, including 12 in the game’s first three innings.
Martin, the Big 12 Player of the Week, became the first Wildcat to turn in a multi-homer game this season with his grand slam and three-run homer in the second. The Edgewater Park, N.J., product drove a game-leading eight runs batted in, finishing 2-for-4.
Donte Lewis (2-0) was awarded the victory in relief, as the true freshman held the Tribe (4-10) to one earned run and allowed just two hits in his 3 1/3 innings of work. Lewis retired 11 of the 13 batters he faced in his fourth outing of the season, striking out a season-high five.
K-State starter Michael Quevedo recorded a pair of punch outs on his way to retiring the side in the opening frame. Quevedo’s day ended after 3 2/3 innings, with a season-high four earned runs surrendered on six hits. Both pitchers achieved above a 68% strike percentage.
Ty Smolinski and Bear Madliak added to the Cats home run total with their solo shots while AJ Evasco, who produced a season-high three hits (3-for-5), rounded out the Cats’ home run count with his walk-off, three-run blast in the seventh.
Eleven different Wildcats have hit the long ball this season, led by Maritn with five, while it is K-State’s first five-home run game since May 31, 2024, against La Tech in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
K-State has homered in nine of 13 games this season, including multiple in six.
Sunday: K-State 20 William & Mary 6 (7 Innings)
With two-home run efforts by Maximus Martin and Keegan O’Connor, K-State recorded its highest run total in two years, clinching a dominant 20-6 seven-inning-run-rule victory to complete the series sweep of William & Mary on Sunday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium.
A day after setting season-highs in runs, home runs, and extra-base hits, K-State (9-5) reestablished those team bests against the Tribe (4-11) by tallying a season-high 20 hits with 11 going for extra bases. The Cats scored in each inning and plated a season-high nine runs in the fifth inning. Eleven different players produced a hit with five hitting multiple, while five drove in multiple RBI.
The 20 total runs are the most in a game by the Wildcats since April 16, 2023, vs. Kansas (21), while it is the first time reaching 20 hits since March 2, 2024, against UMass Lowell.
Alongside Martin and O’Connor, Shintaro Inoue and Cayden Phillips each homered, recording back-to-back blasts in the fifth. With Phillips solo shot, 12 different players have sent one out this season.
Martin homered in his fourth consecutive game, and third straight game with a homer in the first inning. The junior from Edgewater Park, N.J., sent out his sixth homer of the season 393-feet to left center in the fourth. He finished 5-for-5 on the day, falling short of a triple of completing the cycle, while he became the first player to record five hits in a single game since Brady Day at Houston on March 24, 2024.
O’Connor, a native of Andover, Mass., homered in the second and fifth to record his first career multi-home run game. He ended the day 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored.
Starter Lincoln Sheffield (3-1) was awarded his third consecutive victory, as the left-hander logged 4 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. Sheffield surrendered five runs (four earned) on eight hits to finish his fourth outing.
K-State has registered a home run in six straight games, totaling 20 in the stretch with Martin accounting for six of them followed by O’Connor with four.
On the weekend, K-State finished the series hitting .400 with a .492 on-base percentage and slugging .800 with nine doubles and 12 home runs, while outscoring WM 41-13. Eleven players finished with a batting average over .300, led by Martin’s .667 average. Martin ended the weekend with 12 RBI, seven runs scored and eight hits, that included one double and five home runs.
