⚾️ Kansas State Edges KU 5-2 on Saturday

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Kansas Jayhawks fell on Saturday afternoon to the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 5-2 at Tointon Family Stadium. Jack Hammond hit his sixth home run of the season in the seventh inning.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Blake Adams (5-4)
Final line: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 SO

Save: German Fajardo (2)
Final line: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO

Loss: Cole Larsen (1-7)
Final line: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 1 SO

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Kansas State (24-22) got out to an early 3-0 lead after one inning. A leadoff home run by Dominic Johnson, an RBI double from Jeff Heinrich and an RBI groundout by Dylan Phillips put the Wildcats ahead.
• A solo home run by Kaelen Culpepper in the fourth inning pushed the K-State lead to 4-0.
• KU was able to get on the board in the sixth inning after a leadoff double by Payton Allen and back-to-back groundouts drove him home. Nolan Metcalf hit the RBI groundout to score Allen.
• K-State’s Johnson responded by hitting his second solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 5-1.
• Jack Hammond then hit a solo home run of his own in the seventh inning to shrink the deficit to 5-2. That was all the scoring for the remainder of the game.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Payton Allen: Allen was the lone Jayhawk with two hits in the game. Both of his hits were doubles and it was the first time in his career he had multiple extra-base hits. He also made several excellent defensive plays at third base.

QUOTABLE
“It was a great, competitive college baseball game. Their starting pitcher did a really nice job of getting ahead in the count and spinning his breaking ball for a strike. At times he was dominating, and that was the difference in the game.” – Head Coach Ritch Price

UP NEXT
Kansas (20-28) will face Kansas State in the third and final game of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at Tointon Family Stadium. The game will be streamed on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+ and live audio can be heard on the Jayhawk Sports Network.