K-State baseball collapses late, falls to Omaha 7-6

“We played poorly tonight. Obviously, we need to improve in many areas,” said K-State head coach Pete Hughes in a written statement. “Winning programs need to expand five-run leads and finish games. We fell short with that mindset and that is my responsibility.”

Wildcats pitchers surrendered 10 hits, five walks and two hit-by-pitches, while the K-State defense committed four fielding errors. Only four of the seven runs Omaha (2-6) scored were earned.

Nick Goodwin, Brady Day and Cole Johnson each had two-hit games for the Wildcats, who finished with 10 total. Goodwin drove in two runs, while Day and Cayden Phillips had one RBI apiece.

Each team notched a run in the first inning, and then K-State put up three in the second and two in the fifth. The Mavericks scored two in the bottom of the fifth to make it a three-run game.

Omaha put runners on second and third with one out against Mason Buss in the bottom of the eighth before Wisenbaker came on in relief. Wisenbaker was credited with two runs on two hits in 2/3 inning.

Wildcats starting pitcher Shay Hartis gave up one run on four hits in four innings. Andrew Evans allowed two runs (zero earned) on two hits in 1 2/3 innings, and Buss gave up two runs on two hits in 1 2/3 innings.

K-State has now lost six games in a row after opening the year at 4-0. The Wildcats will open at home Friday against Army.