Helping to propel K-State (37-15, 14-7) to first place in the Big 12 and the team’s first national ranking in four years, K-State catcher Blair DeBord has been named one of 15 players across the nation a Johnny Bench semifinalist. The award, given annually to the nation’s best catcher, is named after Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Johnny Lee Bench.

DeBord is the first Wildcat to ever be named a semifinalist for the award, and is one of two Big 12 players to make the cut. The junior from Manhattan High School is hitting .319 on the season with 29 runs, 51 hits, 10 doubles, and 30 RBIs. He has started 48 of the team’s 52 games, including every league contest this year. Additionally, he has only committed three errors in those 48 games with a .991 fielding percentage. He has been charged with nine passed balls (essentially failing to properly field a pitch that results in an advancement by a runner).

DeBord was selected to the semifinalist list by a committee of 20 voters. Three finalists will be announced on June 4th and the winner will be announced June 27th. The finalists and overall winner will be determined by two rounds of voting by current Division I head coaches. The award was first instituted in 2000 and two Big 12 players have received the award over the past 12 years – Kelly Shoppach (Baylor, 2001) and J.T. Wise (Oklahoma, 2009). Bryan Holaday of TCU won the award in 2010, before Texas Christian was a member of the league. K-State will wrap up its regular season with a three game homestand against Oklahoma starting this Friday evening (preview here).

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

With a share of both the football and basketball regular season championships in its back pocket, the Kansas State Wildcats look for a triple crown this weekend in attempting to take home the league’s baseball championship as well. The Wildcats (37-15, 14-7) have won four straight following a three game sweep of KU (31-21, 12-12) last weekend and are enjoying their first national ranking since 2009.

Standing in K-State’s way are the West Virginia Mountaineers (30-23, 12-9) and Oklahoma Sooners (35-17, 12-9) – although K-State already took its series against West Virginia 2-1 earlier this year and cannot do any more to impede the team’s advancement. However, as long as the team can secure two victories against Oklahoma this weekend, it will not matter.

#18 Oklahoma is looking to bounce back after dropping a nonconference game against Dallas Baptist on Tuesday 6-4 which caused the Sooners to drop seven of its last nine games. They were ranked 10th in the nation at one point after defeating New Mexico to win the Kleberg College Classic Championship followed by a winning against #29 Pepperdine. However, they have struggled since and are only 4-5 in conference road games and 7-8 overall on the road.

Hosting Oklahoma is a Wildcat team with a 7-2 conference home record and 22-6 at home overall. The squad is batting .321 on the season while holding opponents to .262 for a gaudy hitting discrepancy  The ability to get on base is translating into runs, as the Wildcats have outscored opponents 331-221 on the season. One area the team has not excelled at is the power game – despite scoring over 100 more runs, the team has only hit 26 home runs while giving up 23. They have thrown two shut outs while being blanked once.

Although West Virginia is still in the conference race, the Mountaineers will have a tough time banging out three wins against Oklahoma State (37-13, 11-9). The Cowboys are 1/2 game behind WVU and OU after having a conference game canceled earlier this year but have the highest overall winning percentage at .740 (K-State is the only other school above 70 percents at .712). However, OSU is not in the running for the Big 12 championship, which K-State needs one win this weekend to secure a share of and two wins to win outright. Friday and Saturday night games against Oklahoma start at 6:30 while Sunday’s final installment will get underway at 1:00 pm.

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Fresh off a three game sweep of the University of Kansas and in position to take the Big 12 regular season championship with a two game lead over Oklahoma and West Virginia, Kansas State entered the top 25 for the first time in four years yesterday. The Wildcats, at 37-15 overall and 14-7 in the Big 12, sit at #21 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll and at #19 in Baseball America’s Top 25.

Kansas State joins Oklahoma (35-16, 13-9) and Oklahoma State (36-13, 11-9) as the league’s representatives in the USA Today rankings. The Sooners are ranked immediately ahead of the Wildcats at #20 and the Cowboys are #18. In the Baseball America poll, Oklahoma State is immediately behind K-State at #20 while Oklahoma sits at #25. Despite posting the same conference record as Oklahoma and a better record than Oklahoma State, West Virginia is not ranked nor did it receive votes in either poll.

Kansas State can secure at least a portion of the conference crown by avoiding a sweep during its three game homestand against the Sooners – two wins would secure an unshared championship. The Wildcats opened conference play by taking their series against West Virginia 2-1. They have not played the Sooners this year. The Big 12 championship tournament will begin Wednesday, May 22 with games everyday until a winner is crowned on Sunday the 26th.

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In what has become a banner year for athletics at Kansas State, the Wildcat baseball mounted a sensational comeback over the weekend to defeat the Jayhawks 9-6 on Saturday to retain sole possession of first place in the Big 12. After giving up the first six runs of the game to the Jayhawks, K-State scored nine straight – including three in the ninth inning – to down KU and retain sole possession of first place tie in the conference. They completed the sweep with a 7-3 victory in Lawrence on Sunday after winning the first game of the series 4-3 on Friday.

With a four game win streak and 14-7 conference record, K-State has cracked open tight race for first place over Oklahoma and West Virginia, who both stand two games back at 12-9. They did so after falling behind early to KU (12-12 in conference) on Saturday by giving up six runs in the first three innings while being blanked themselves. However, they were able to get some late game heroics against KU reliever Jordan Piche (6-3). Piche leads the Big 12 with a 0.71 ERA and had not allowed more than one run in 25 previous outings. However, the Wildcats were able to secure two runs in the seventh to tie the game, and then hit two home runs to score three in the ninth inning.

Completing the sweep Sunday afternoon required fewer dramatics. The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the first inning and started off with a 5-1 lead before pulling out a 7-3 victory. Second baseman Ross Kivett had three hits in five at bats, scoring two of the teams runs. Blake McFadden (5-2) went five innings for the victory. Facing 17 batters, he allowed three hits, two runs, walked three, and struck out one.

K-State will look to lock up a regular season championship this weekend with a three game series against Oklahoma. The games will be in Manhattan, where the Wildcats are 7-2 in conference play. Oklahoma is 12-9 in the Big 12 but only 4-5 on the road.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

A watchlist contender on several preseason awards lists, Kansas State centerfielder Jared King has been named one of 60  finalists for the Golden Spikes top amateur baseball player in the country. The Golden Spikes Award, in its 36th year, recently released its top 60 players as part of an ongoing process that will culminate in the July 19th presentation of the top player.

King will go through several additional iterations of the process before getting to the July 19 presentation, should he receive the award. The 60 contestants will be narrowed to 30 on May 28. At this point, fans will be able to vote to select three semifinalists, to be announced shortly later on June 4th. The final presentation will take place on MLB Network’s “The Rundown.”

King is one of just a handful of Big 12 players on the watchlist, with perennial powerhouse SEC leading the nation with 12. The Pac 12 is shortly behind at 10 and the ACC has five. He has helped lead K-State to a 33-15 record on the season, with a 9-7 record in the Big 12 conference. The junior is batting .331 on the season with six home runs and 42 RBIs on 166 at bats. He has an on-base percentage of .412. Additionally, his fielding percentage of .977 has helped put his team in contention for a league championship with a chance to make some noise in the NCAA tournament.

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Taking home Kansas State’s first individual Big 12 weekly honor, Tanner Witt has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week for March 17-23. It also marked the first weekly honor for the senior outfielder this season who has also been serving as a closer for the Wildcats.

Witt’s exceptional week was marked by a .500 batting average after going eight-for-16 while collecting six RBIs. K-State picked up four wins over that span. Impressively, he was six-for-eight against 2012 NCAA regional qualifier Bethune-Cookman. K-State swept Bethune-Cookman in a three-game series while Witt collected four runs and four RBIs against the Cookman Wildcats.

Witt has appeared in 24 games so far this season and is batting .309, including two doubles and 14 RBIs. He is also leading the Big 12 in sacrifice flies with six on the season.

Kansas State is now 17-8 on the year with a 2-1 record in Big 12 play. The Wildcats begin a Big 12 road trip with a three game weekend series against Baylor (11-14, 1-1). A perrenial national power, the Baylor Bears are suffering an off year and K-State will look to build on its sixth in the nation batting average of .323. The school takes a five game winning streak into the series and are coming off a 10-8 victory over former Big 12 member Nebraska.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Playing its first of a 19-game homestand this afternoon against Oakland University (0-4), Kansas State (4-3) survived a late comeback attempt to down the Golden Grizzlies, 4-2. Sophomore Nate Williams faced 30 batters over 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits while walking three and striking out five. Senior Tanner Witt finished with three hits and one run to lead the offense.

Witt put the Wildcats on the board early, recording a single and stealing second in the first inning. He was driven home by Shane Conlon, who ended the inning stranded on second. K-State then scored two runs in the fourth. RJ Santigate came out swinging, knocking the first pitch he saw into far left center for a double. Blair Debord then grounded out at first, but advanced Santigate to third. A single by Austin Fisher brought Santigate home. Tanner Witt, with his third at-bat of the game, doubled to advance Fisher to third. Conlon then grounded out, but advanced Witt to third while bringing Fisher home. Jared King popped out to end the inning.

The teams then traded runs later in the game, with Oakland scoring one in the sixth, Kansas State one in the seventh, and Oakland the game’s final run in the eighth. In the eighth, Oakland’s first batter reached base on an error and reached home three hitters later. However, the Grizzlies left two on base in the inning, started the ninth with two straight strike outs, and never threatened again. The two teams play a double-header on Sunday, starting at noon. The game’s first pitcher for K-State will be lefty Joe Flattery(0-1, 10.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 BB, 2 K). Right-handed Matt Wivinis (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 10.0 IP, 1 BB, 10 K) will start the second game.

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

While the Kansas State baseball team must assist 19 players in adjusting to Division I, one player the team has little concern about is junior outfielder Jared King. King was recognized by Perfect Game as a Second Team All-American on Monday as just one of two Big 12 players to received All-American status by Perfect Game. King was a Second Team All-Big 12 selection as a sophomore and became selected to the First Team American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Midwest Region.

King is the returning regular season Big 12 batting champion, hitting .378 in 2012. He led the Wildcats with 15 doubles, 27 multi-hit games, and 12 multi-RBI games. He also recorded seven home runs and 47 RBIs. His career batting average is .346 after hitting .333 his freshman year when he was a Freshman All-American.

K-State alum, Carlos Torres. Credit: Andrew B. Fielding-US PRESSWIRE

Throughout the hottest months of the year, JOS will be tracking K-State’s own professional “boys of summer.” As they attempt to earn a promotion to the major leagues. we will the progress of each toward their ultimate goal of making it to the major leagues. Hit the jump for the latest installment.

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Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Normally, this feature appears every Monday. This week, it’s a bit delayed. Additionally, I won’t be providing any analysis aside from what KStateSports.com provides in the following capsules. Hit the jump for how our KSU alumni are doing in their professional baseball careers.

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