Photo Courtesy of Big 12
Arlington, Texas – Under the roof in North Texas on the second day of the 2024 Big 12 Conference Tournament, the No. 6 seed Kansas State University Wildcats knocked off the No. 4 seed West Virginia University Mountaineers 8-4 in the first game at Globe Life Field on Wednesday.
Kansas State senior southpaw starting pitcher Owen Boerema threw a complete game against the West Virginia offense and advanced his record to 6-3 in the regular season.
Boerma threw 131 pitches with 89 for strikes and faced 38 batters while allowing seven hits, four earned runs, two walks, and striking out ten batters during his performance.
“Obviously, I’m just really happy to win. Whether I go two innings or nine innings, getting the win is what’s most important. That’s able to happen with junior catcher Raphael Pelletier and pitching coach Rudy Darrow calling the pitches. They just did an unbelievable job and gave me the confidence I needed”, Boerma told World Baseball Network during the postgame press conference.
West Virginia is officially eliminated from the 2024 Big 12 Conference tournament’s double-elimination format. The team has not won a title since joining in 2013.
“I’ll just give a lot of credit to our pitching coach. It’s so difficult to call pitches when you have to
maneuver your way through a lineup four times and five times with the best hitter in our conference. That constant attention to detail and changing of patterns, it was as good a repertoire I saw in the field between the pitching coach calling a game and a pitcher I’ve seen in a long time”, Kansas State head coach Pete Hughes stated during the post-game press conference.
West Virginia is ranked 33 from their RPI and will have to wait on Selection Monday to see if the NCAA Committee in Indianapolis will select the program into the field of 64 for the 2024 tournament.
The Mountaineers plowed the first two runs of the game on Wednesday, with second baseman Brodie Kresser lacing a two-run RBI single into center field, scoring junior shortstop J.J. Wetherholt and sophomore catcher Logan Sauve for a 2-0 lead.
The next batter, left fielder Sam White lifted a sacrifice fly to Kansas State University right fielder Nick English as third baseman Reed Chmuley came into score to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Kansas State offense did not go quiet as they salvaged seven runs in the top of the fourth inning starting with second baseman Brady Day hammering a two-run RBI double to right-center field scoring center fielder Brendan Jones and designated hitter Kyan Lodice to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Kansas State junior first baseman David Bishop followed up with a two-run RBI single into center field, scoring shortstop Kaelen Culpepper and Day to go up 4-3.
West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey pulled the leash on West Virginia senior starting pitcher Hambleton Oliver at the top of the fourth inning, and he called upon sophomore relief pitcher Robby Porco.
Oliver threw three innings and allowed four hits, five earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts during Tuesday’s first game of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
During the seven-run inning, the West Virginia pitching staff gave up two walks with the bases loaded to Lodice and Culpepper.
Porco threw .1 of an inning, allowed two earned runs and two walks, and threw one wild pitch to the backstop, scoring Bishop for the fifth run of the game before he was taken out.
Boerema coasted the rest of the way and got Sauve to ground out to Day for the final out of the game as Kansas State knocked off West Virginia 8-4 out of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
The West Virginia pitching staff allowed seven hits, eight earned runs, 11 walks, and five strikeouts during their second conference tournament loss on Wednesday.
During Wednesday’s elimination game, West Virginia’s offense left seven runners on base.
“Now that we’re healthy and were going to be rested from not having to play five-six games this week, in hindsight, that’s the best thing to not stress your team out during this week, and it’s hard to play a game at 9 a.m. of a double-elimination format in the conference tournament and maybe this is the biggest thing for us that we get some extra rest before the NCAA tournament”, West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey told World Baseball Network during the post-game press conference.
Kansas State University will play No. 9 TCU on May 23 at Globe Life Field at 10 a.m. EST on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
