K-STATE SPORTS INFORMATION
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kansas State's pitchers Ty Ruhl, Cole Wisenbaker, Blake Dean and JJ Slack tossed eight scoreless innings for a 7-2 championship victory over Southeast Missouri State Sunday in the 2024 NCAA Fayetteville Baseball Regional.
The Wildcats (35-24) travel to No. 18 Virginia for the best 2-of-3 Super Regional Friday for the right to advance to the 2024 College World Series.
David Bishop and Danniel Rivera delivered RBI singles to ignite a 4-run second inning. An RBI grounder by Raphael Pelletier and an RBI single by Brendan Jones doubled the Cats' lead.
The Wildcats added three in the third, highlighted by a two-run single from Jones for a 7-0 lead.
"Relentless describes this team," said K-State baseball coach Pete Hughes. “They love playing with that KS on their chest and playing for that community. Every player came here to win regionals, and raise the standard of Kansas State baseball.”
Five Wildcats were named to the Fayetteville Regional all-tournament team with Kaelen Culpepper, who went 7-for-12 (.583) with two home runs and seven RBI, was named the Fayetteville Regional's most valuable player. Culpepper was joined by 3B Jaden Parsons, OF Chuck Ingram, pitcher Jackson Wentworth and pitcher Tyson Neighbors on the region's all-tournament team.
Ruhl logged four scoreless innings against a team that averaged 9 runs per game heading into the regional finale. Ruhl yielded two hits with five strikeouts. Wisenbaker (4-0) permitted two hits in three innings.
Jones drove in three runs with three singles. Bishop drove in two runs.
WILDCATS 7, NO. 5 ARKANSAS 6 –In front of a crowd of over 11,000 fans, K-State fended off No. 5 ranked Arkansas Saturday 7-6 to advance to the Fayetteville Regional final at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Trailing 2-0, the Wildcats (34-24) evened the score before taking a one-run lead with a sacrifice bunt from Jaden Parsons until Kaelen Culpepper delivered a 3-run homer to dead center to cap 6-run fifth inning off All-American and Team USA pitcher Hagen Smith, who is second in the nation in total strikeouts (161). True freshman Nick English scored the game-deciding run in the eighth with his third blast of the season.
"What an unbelievable environment just to be a part of it, I know it's difficult for the opponent to come in here and play, that's for sure," head coach Pete Hughes said following the Cats' first Top 5 win since 2021. "I can't imagine there's a better atmosphere in college baseball.
"Throw in the fact that one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball today was pitching against us, in a rabid atmosphere, rabid environment. You just kind of pick your spots, if you even get one versus [Smith] then hopefully you execute. We had some of things go our way, but we took advantage of the big inning and the only opportunity we had to score against him. Fortunate to have kids execute and slow down the moment on the big stage," Hughes added.
Smith, the Arkansas single-season strikeouts leader, received just his second loss of the season after surrendering a season-high six runs (six earned) on four hits (9-2). The left-hander punched out seven batters in the nightcap before he was relieved in the sixth. Prior to Saturday's contest, Smith had only allowed 13 earned runs over 79 innings.
Jackson Wentworth earned his fifth win of the season, after holding the Razorbacks to two earned runs on seven hits in his 5 2/3 innings of work (5-5). With three strikeouts in the victory, the right-hander now totals 110 strikeouts on the year, which is eight shy of matching current Major Leaguer's Jordan Wicks' single-season record.
"We asked some of our athletes to get out of their comfort zone a little bit like asking [Tyson Neighbors] to get 10 outs for us. It's that time of year when people go above and beyond, and you get to see what kind of competitors you have and know that you have in your dugout."
Neighbors earned his ninth save and 20th of his career with 3 1/3 innings. The Royse City, Texas product was rocked for four earned runs, six hits with five strikeouts.
"I just love seeing them have success because they've paid the price for the moment they had tonight, and they know that it's not over. We're still greedy. We have a lot of work to do, but they should enjoy the moment for the time being."
No.3 seed K-State advanced to the regional championship for the third time. The Wildcats play the Arkansas (44-15)/SEMO (35-26) winner at 6 p.m.
Arkansas' Wehiwa Aloy and Kendall Diggs singled in the fourth but were left stranded. Day broke up Smith's no-hit bid with a single into the center.
After four scoreless innings, the Razorbacks capitalized on a wild pitch and throwing error to plate the opening run. A single out to center helped Arkansas to a 2-0 lead in the next at-bat.
Smith issued back-to-back walks to put the Cats' first runner in scoring position and build momentum in the Wildcats dugout leading to a 6-run fifth inning. Raphael Pelletier's sacrifice bunt moved runners to first and third before Chuck Ingram and Brendan Jones strung together a pair of hits to even the score.
Parsons laid down a squeeze bunt to bring home a diving Ingram. With runners on first and second, Culpepper blasted his second home run of the day 365-feet out to dead center to expand the Cats' lead, 6-2.
Neighbors relieved Wentworth in the sixth and inherited runners on first and second. The junior righty forced a grounder to short to preserve the lead.
Arkansas scored runs in the seventh and eighth to bring the game back within two, until English launched a one-out, solo homer into the left field bullpen for the insurance run.
A two-run homer for left fielder Peyton Holt made it a one-run ball game, but Neighbors locked in a struck out two to hold off the Razorbacks.
2024 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
FRIDAY G1 1 p.m.–No. 4 North Carolina 47-15 vs. No. 12 Virginia 46-15
FRIDAY G2 6 p.m.–No. 1 Tennessee 56-11 vs. No. 8 Florida State 47-16
SATURDAY G3 1 p.m.–No. 2 Kentucky 45-14 vs. No. 7 Georgia 44-16/No. 10 N.C. State 38-21 winner
SATURDAY G4 6 p.m.–No. 3 Texas A&M 49-13 vs. Florida 34-28
NCAA SUPER REGIONALS
Tennessee 11, Evansville 6; Evansville 10, Tennessee 8; Tennessee 12, Evansville 1
Florida State 24, Connecticut 4; Florida State 10, Connecticut 8
North Carolina 8, West Virginia 6; North Carolina 2, West Virginia 1
Virginia 7, Kansas State 4; Virginia 10, Kansas State 4
Kentucky 10, Oregon State 0; Kentucky 3, Oregon State 2
N.C. State 18, Georgia 1; Georgia 11, N.C. State 2; Georgia vs. N.C. State
Florida 10, Clemson 7; Florida 11, Clemson 10
Texas A&M 10, Oregon 6; Texas A&M 15, Oregon 9
