Here's why Kansas State baseball second baseman Brady Day stays out of prolonged slumps
MANHATTAN — Calling it a slump might be a stretch, but by Kansas State baseball second baseman Brady Day's standards it was.
In the five games leading up to Wednesday's mid-week home game against Wichita State, Day had three hits in 16 at-bats, a .188 average, and all singles. That's the bad news. The good news was that even with the mini-slump, he was hitting a team-best .387.
Regardless, Day showed Wednesday why measured against a five-game window, the numbers seemed inconsequential. All he did in the Wildcats' 6-3 come-from-behind victory at Tointon Family Stadium was go 3-for-4 and scored twice, including the tying run in a pivotal four-run eighth inning.
With the victory, the Wildcats swept their two-game season series with Wichita State, improved to 21-10 overall and gathered some momentum heading into their weekend Big 12 series at Oklahoma. Friday's series opener is set for 6:30 p.m., followed by a 4 p.m. game Saturday and the finale at 2 p.m. Sunday.
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OU is tied with West Virginia for the conference lead at 8-4, but K-State is one of four teams a game back at 7-5.
For Day, who was 2-for-10 in the Wildcats' series last weekend at Central Florida — they dropped two of three games there — he had a nice start against WSU with a line-drive single in the first inning. His second hit was a blooper to shallow left that helped put K-State on the board in a two-run fourth.
But his biggest hit never left the infield as he led off the eighth with a perfect bunt down the third base line, triggering a big inning.
"(The third baseman) wasn't playing that far back, but I just figured if I can get one, I was either going to try to put it on the line and make it foul, so it was either a hit or not," Day said of his decision to bunt. "So, it just ended up working out for me.
"It was definitely big to get the leadoff guy in an inning like that, going into the eighth down one. Just start a rally, get the guys hyped in the dugout. It's just big to get that first guy on, get a base runner on to see what the defense does."
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The way K-State coach Pete Hughes sees it, the ability to reach base is what makes Day so consistent. Going into the Oklahoma series he has reached safely in 30 straight games, and his average now is back up to .398 with six home runs and 36 RBIs.
"If you can run and you're a contact guy who can run, you don't stay in slumps very long," Hughes said. "And he's got a pretty good game presence of mind where he saw that that bunt was there to start the inning off.
"He's probably our fastest runner next to (Brendan) Jones, so that way he keeps himself out of slumps."
Day was glad to get back on track, even for one game. The fact that one of his three hits was a line drive didn't matter.
"It was great. I'm always trying to hit the ball hard and do some damage, but sometimes it just doesn't work out like that," Day said. "Baseball is funny. Against UCF, I lined out a few times over the weekend. Hitting the ball hard didn't get paid off.
"Today, I get jammed and I get a single, stuff like that. So just any way I can get on base and help the team is what I'm looking for."
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State baseball second baseman Brady Day always a steady hitter
