The Kansas State baseball team hosted the Crowder College Roughriders in their second show game of the fall season Friday afternoon. Although the game caused a lot of offense from both sides, the Wildcats got away with an 11-8 victory over the Roughriders after 12 innings. Three additional rounds were established due to the exhibition status of the matchup.
Crowder College is an NJCAA Division I squad that ended the regular season 2121 with a record of 55-8 last year. The team - which also placed in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division I tournament - proved to be a tough opponent for the Wildcats. The Roughriders struck first with a two-place finish in the first half.
After a couple of laps handed over by junior right-handed pitcher Dylan Phillips, second player Nick Goodwin made a throwing mistake at shortstop so that two Roughrider races could cross the plate. However, K-State immediately equalized in the bottom half of the first with an RBI from juniors Cole Johnson and Dylan Phillips, scoring Justin Mitchell and Johnson.
After a scoreless top in the second half, the Wildcats left a run in the bottom half. Senior Josh Nicoloff played a low pitch for a home run over the left field wall, giving K-State its first lead of the match at 3-2.
In the third round, Crowder took advantage of the Wildcat errors to scratch a race over. A dropped third stroke and a passing ball put Crowder up with a runner in scoring position, who would tie the match on an RBI single up in midfield.
Then fireworks broke out as K-State scored three races to make it 6-3. A first place home field on the opposite field by Dylan Phillips set the tone at the bottom of the fourth, and Goodwin scored on a passing ball. When Goodwin brought out the jug that slid into the home plate, the ball shot free and let senior Terrence Spurlin also score.
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K-State went on the insurance run by scoring two more on fifth with RBI from Phillips and Goodwin to 8-3. However, Crowder managed to get them back in the sixth and seventh innings with a solo shot and a baseload walk. The Wildcats still had an 8-5 edge.
K-State streamed two more races with an RBI from second-place transfer Orlando Salinas Jr., and scored first-year Dylan Hufft, who made a fantastic catch in shallow right field when he fell back in 10th place. Then Dom Hughes scored on a pass ball after reaching on a single and an error in the left field.
To get a fantastic offensive performance, K-State had another home run in the back pocket when novice Cayden Phillips hit a bomb to the left-center field. Crowder scored two on an RBI double at the top of the 12th, but second-right pitcher Elijah Dale secured an 11-8 victory over the Roughriders.
Dylan Phillips (3) and Cole Johnson (1) combined on four RBIs and three races scored - Johnson with two races and Phillips with one. Pitchers collected for 15 strikeouts, three of which struck out on the side in the ninth by novice right-handed pitcher Jackson Wentworth.
The Wildcats continue the fall season with the annual ALS Halloween game on October 30th. The fall ball ends with the annual autumn world series from 5 to 7 November.
The ALS Halloween game at Tointon Family Stadium starts about 30 minutes after the K-State football game against TCU.