WICHITA, Kan. Kansas State snapped back into the win column Tuesday night with a statement road victory, taking down in-state foe Wichita State 10–6 at a lively Eck Stadium.
The win gave K-State (21–12, 5–7 Big 12) its sixth straight triumph over the Shockers matching the Wildcats’ second-longest streak in the history of the rivalry.
Head coach Pete Hughes, who notched his ninth win over Wichita State (21–13, 5–4 American) since arriving in Manhattan, praised his team’s execution on enemy turf.
“It was a really solid all around baseball game on the road,” Hughes said. “Tanner Duke gave us a great start. Ten hits in five innings can look misleading what matters is the quality of contact, and he had just one walk with seven strikeouts. He’s taken a big step forward from his last outings, and that’s exactly what we needed. Our bullpen was strong with the lead. Clean baseball, rival on the road our guys handled it well.”
Tanner Duke (3–1) earned the win in his seventh start of the year, grinding through five innings while giving up five earned runs on 10 hits but flashing big-time stuff with a game-leading seven strikeouts.
After a quiet opening frame, the Wildcats struck first Cadyn Karl ended an 18-inning scoring drought with a clutch two-run single to ignite the offense.
K-State kept pouring it on in the third. Walks to Kyan Lodice, Dee Kennedy, and Bear Madliak loaded the bases with no outs. A wild pitch opened the floodgates, and RBI knocks from Carlos Vasquez and Shintaro Inoue pushed the Wildcats ahead 5–0.
The Shockers clawed back, cutting the lead to 5–3 with a rally of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
But K-State answered right back. With one out in the fifth, catcher Shea McGahan ripped an 0-1 pitch into right field to plate another run, making it 6–1. Moments later, senior Grant Gallagher lifted a sacrifice fly to extend the Wildcats’ cushion to four.
Holding an 8–5 lead, K-State turned the ball over to left-hander Robert Fortenberry, who carved through the Shockers with clean sixth and seventh innings before allowing a hit and a run in the eighth. That prompted the Wildcats to turn once more to the bullpen.
Tazwell Butler, the steady redshirt senior, took over with runners at the corners and wasted no time shutting things down—recording the final two outs of the inning to protect the lead. Butler allowed a hit in the ninth but stayed in command, closing out his third save of the season and sealing K-State’s road victory in rivalry territory.
