K-State Baseball Cats Lose to the Hated Hawks In 11 Innings

Brad Hill’s boys are seriously scuffling right now. Tonight, they lost in 11 innings, when KU hit a walkoff homer in the bottom half of the 11th inning. After the hits the Cats took from graduation last season, a dropoff was to be expected. But I don’t think anyone (particularly Brad Hill) could have foreseen the abomination that this season has become.

Currently, the Wildcats sit with a record of 19-23 (3-13 in the Big XII), having lost 8 straight games, after the above-mentioned loss to the Jayhawks. They sit in the cellar of the Big XII standings, 1/2 game behind woeful Texas Tech. Hitting has not been the issue with this team. Jared King, Tanner Witt, and Wade Hinkel in particular have been hitting the ball quite well.

However, no pitcher who has appeared in 10 or more games has an ERA lower than Joe Flattery’s 4.04, with two of the three main starting pitchers having ERAs of 5.11 and 5.81 respectively. The bullpen is no better, with only two regulars putting up an ERA of less than 5.00 (Nate Williams at 4.12, and Matt Wivinis at 4.60). Granted, our pitching staff is very young, but I don’t think most people expected our guys to struggle to this extent. You can take a look at the statistical damage for yourself at the Cats website.

Unless the Cats figure something out very quickly–and there is no indication that is going to happen–it looks like this is going to be an utterly lost season, with not even an appearance in the Big 12 Tournament seeming likely at this point.