Keegan O’Connor delivered a walk-off single to complete the Wildcats’ dramatic comeback victory Friday night, as K-State erased a five-run deficit in the ninth inning to edge 12th-ranked West Virginia, 8-7, at Tointon Family Stadium.
The Mountaineers (39-9, 18-5 Big 12), ranked 12th by D1Baseball, jumped out to a 4-0 lead before stretching their lead to five after scoring three runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Trailing 7-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, K-State (29-20, 15-10 Big 12) sent 10 batters to the plate and erupted for five runs before O’Connor’s game-winning hit sealed a walk-off victory, handing the Wildcats their fourth Top 25 win of the season.
“Well, that was fun,” said head coach Pete Hughes after the game. “That’s why we all came here, the players, our staff, to win games like that in front of our community, to have a distinct home field advantage.”
“We had every single guy on our team who hit that inning have that mentality and allowed us to win the last at bat,” Hughes added.
O’Connor, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, led off the Wildcats ninth-inning rally with his 16th homer – a 354-foot shot over the left field wall – tying the program’s single-season record. With his 16th blast of the year, O’Connor is the fourth player to achieve the milestone, joining former Wildcats Heath Schesser (1997), Scott Poepard (1997) and career-home run record holder Dylan Phillips (2021).
“Jacob Frost allowed us to do that too. He got hit around a little bit, and by a good offensive team, but he didn’t panic, and he damage-controlled that outing and gave his teammates a chance to win the game in the ninth,” Hughes added.
In his 12th start of the season, Frost retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, including striking out five. The St. Louis, Mo., product capped his 6 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts against an offense that averaged just 6.8 per game before handing the ball over to Ty Ruhl. The reliever finished the game and was awarded the win, improving to 3-2 on the year.
Eight different players contributed a hit in the victory, with four recording multi-hit efforts. Sophomore Dee Kennedy went 3-for-4 to pace the Wildcats’ offense, producing his 17th game with multiple hits, a team high. In addition to O’Connor, catcher Bear Madliak drove in a pair of runs, going 2-for-4 with a home run and single.
With homers by Madliak and O’Connor, the Wildcats are one short of tying a program-record 89 set in 2021.
The comeback victory, which marked the 50th under Hughes, is the largest come-from-behind win since March 28, 2023 where the Wildcats trailed 9-4 after six innings against Air Force before rallying for eight unanswered runs.
