Kansas State baseball drops last two games and series at West Virginia; BYU next at home
Kansas State baseball's final Big 12 road series at West Virginia got off to a promising start but ended with a thud Sunday as the Wildcats dropped the last two games to fall back below the .500 mark and into a tie for seventh place at 13-14.
K-State, 29-21 overall, never trailed Friday on the way to a 4-3 victory, but the Mountaineers dominated the next two, 13-0 and 12-5.
Still, the Wildcats have a golden opportunity to make up for their road woes by closing out the regular season this weekend with a home series against a Brigham Young team (19-29, 6-21) that is playing out the string after failing to qualify for the Big 12 Tournament. The games are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday with the finale at 4 p.m. Saturday at Tointon Family Stadium.
K-State, which has secured a spot in the 10-team conference tournament, went into the West Virginia series projected as a No. 3 NCAA Tournament regional seed and could solidify that position with a strong finish this weekend and in Arlington, Texas.
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In the West Virginia series, the Wildcats got solid pitching performances from starter Owen Boerema (5-3), Blake Dean and Tyson Neighbors (seventh save), plus clutch hitting from Brady Day (2-for-5, 2 RBI) and Kaelen Culpepper (2-for-3, double and RBI) to take the opener. But a dominating performance by Mountaineers starter Derek Clark and three K-State errors that led to nine unearned runs were too much to overcome.
The Wildcats managed just five hits in Sunday's finale as West Virginia (31-19, 17-10) pulled away to win the series. K-State finished the regular season with a 9-14 road record but is 18-6 at home.
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 drops West Virginia series after promising start
