Kansas State Baseball Team Falls Short In The Super Regional But Remains Determined
By David Boyce
Emotions were still too raw for Kansas State baseball players, coaches and fans to feel good about a wonderful season that came to an abrupt end Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville, Va.
The Wildcats, making their second ever appearance in the NCAA Super Regional, played Virginia extremely close in the pivotal second game of the best of three series. K-State, trailing 5-4 in the ninth, needed a win to keep its season alive.
Instead, Virginia scored five runs in the top of the ninth, and punched its ticket to the College World Series for the seventh time in the last 16 years. It’s a place K-State intends to get to sometime in the future.
“We're really close,” K-State baseball coach Pete Hughes said after the game. “We didn't come here to get close. We came to Kansas State to get to Omaha. We don't know exactly what it looks like, but we can see it. We plan on getting there.”
Make no mistake, K-State pushed a program steeped in baseball tradition to the limit. In the first game, the Wildcats led 3-0 after four innings and was locked in a 4-4 tie entering the bottom of the seventh when Virginia scored three runs to put the game away.
The Wildcats trailed 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth in the second game when sophomore Kyan Lodice hit a solo home run, pulling K-State to within one heading into the final inning.
“It's a line drive here, a bloop hit there,” Hughes said. “When you can start talking in those terms, you're right there. Maybe a little depth. Maybe a little luck. But I know we're doing it the right way. From where we were five years ago to where we are today is a million miles. But we're all about closing the gap.”
David Boyce is a contributing writer to K-State On SI. He can be reached at davidboyce95@gmail.com
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DAVID BOYCE