D. Scott Fritchen
KStateSports.com
It's been more than three months since Kansas State went on its early-season tear with three consecutive wins against No. 5 Arkansas, Michigan and No. 22 TCU in Arlington, Texas, and it's almost one year to the day that the magical Wildcats beat the Razorbacks en route to capturing the 2024 Fayetteville Regional, but no matter the month or year there's something about big games against non-conference foes that gets this team going.
K-State will get its chance to shine again on Friday at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
That's when the No. 3-seed Wildcats, 31-24, meet No. 2 seed UTSA, 44-13, to open their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
"In order to be ready for games like this, you have to play great Omaha-caliber teams," senior first baseman David Bishop said. "To play against those big teams early and have success shows that we have the confidence to go into this regional and walk out with a win.
"Last year's team, we didn't have much experience, and those guys handled adversity great. At Arkansas, they weren't nervous with the environment. This team will do even better."
This team will also feature almost an entirely different starting lineup than a year ago, which makes the coaching job by Pete Hughes and his staff even more remarkable. It also makes this one of the most unique, if not perhaps unlikely, success stories in K-State lore.
"This is especially rewarding," Hughes said. "We really had to revamp our entire lineup. We lost two major components in our starting rotation, arguably the best closer in the country, a first-round short stop, a center fielder, a catcher, and our second baseman was a high draft choice. That's a lot to rebuild.
"To have sustained success is the mark of a national program. When you don't rebuild but reload, that was the significance of this year and being rewarded to go play in the postseason.
"While K-State might fondly remember last year's regional and its early-season flurry against stout competition, the Wildcats will hope to shut out recent shortcomings. K-State has lost four of its last six, including a 9-2 defeat to Houston that knocked the Wildcats out of the first round of the Big 12 Championships.
K-State lefty Jacob Frost (1-4, 5.75 ERA) will go against UTSA right-hander Zach Royse (8-4, 5.38 ERA).UTSA captured the American Athletic Conference regular season title with a 23-4 record and earned its first regional appearance since 2013. UTSA is slashing .318/.429/.487 with six starters hitting .320 or better. Mason Lytle has a team-high .372 average and Drew Detlefsen has a team-high 13 home runs.
The UTSA pitching staff has held opponents to a .257 average with a 2.65 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That includes 90 strikeouts from weekend starter Braylon Owens.
"They're super offensive," Hughes said. "They get on base and they're creative getting on base with a lot of hit-by-pitch and walks — free passes that creates a lot of offense. We've taken a hard look to see what matchups are in our favor with the skillset we have. You have to look at everybody.
"It's not that arduous of a task being a baseball coach, watching film, and game planning for an opponent, but it's one we gladly like to do at this time of year. Coach Rudy Darrow is looking at all the hitters and offenses that we may matchup against. Coach Austin Wates is looking at the pitchers and Thomas Hughes is setting up the defenses. Our think tank is breaking it all down. We have all the information we need. They'll be put into the best position to have success. They just have to make plays and have fun doing it."
This K-State team is used to making plays.
K-State has a slash line of .280/.383/.496 with 115 doubles, four triples and a school-record 92 homers. Maximus Martin has a team-high .332 average followed by Seth Dardar (.326), Keegan O'Connor (.323) and AJ Evasco (.306). O'Connor has a team-high 16 homers to tie the school's single-season record while Martin, Dardar and Dee Kennedy have each posted at least 10 homers as well.
"It's been pretty awesome, man," Martin said. "This is going to be my first regional. The past two years of college, I was never on a team above .400. This year, we're definitely over that. K-State is one of the best decisions of my life. We're competing really well. Everybody is just excited to keep it going. I'm super amped up. To do it with this team is special.
"A K-State win on Friday pits the Wildcats against the winner between No. 2 national seed Texas, 42-12, and No. 4 seed Houston Christian, 32-23.That game would be played Saturday at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
Texas, which posted its best regular season in 15 years, became the first team to win the SEC in its first season since the league's inaugural year in 1933. Jim Schlossnagle was named SEC Coach of the Year, Dylan Volantis was named SEC Freshman of the Year, and five players earned All-SEC honors.
Texas hosts a regional for a 38th time and is 155-59-1 in its 64 postseason appearances. Texas is 53-25-1 all-time against K-State, including a 36-12-1 record at home.
"Anytime you go into someone's home field, I'm sure people view Tointon Family Stadium — it's a difficult place to play," Hughes said. "The other team is certainly comfortable with the surroundings and have a large sample size of success for the entire year in that park, so that goes a long way.
"We went into one of the biggest hornet's nests in college baseball last year. For our guys, it's not going to be daunting. It's a program and a stadium with so much tradition, but we're going there with one thing in mind and that's to try and win a regional. And that starts against a really, really good UTSA team.
"Pitcher JJ Slack undaunted put the finishing touches on victory last year in Fayetteville and performed a backflip as he left the mound. Slack remembers the past. He has felt that K-State postseason magic.
Perhaps it might return this weekend.
"Last year's regional we seized the moment and the opportunity," he said. "We went in there with a chip on our shoulder. We were the underdog in game one last year and came out first pitch and set the tone with what we were going to do the rest of the tournament. That's what we're bringing to the tournament this year.
"We're going to keep the chip on our shoulder, put our heads down, and go to work."