Resilience is built through difficult experiences. For college baseball programs, that means survival of the fittest during seasons with deep postseason runs that can stretch into 60-game ranges.
The sun doesn’t shine on every logo through a February-through-June slate. Kansas State grasped that realization in the last three days of March with Easter on deck. A wild, 61-runs-combined Texas series dumped the Wildcats on their proverbial posteriors, leaving them with a 13-16 record, which shifted a bounce-back emphasis upon the veteran squad.
“All these guys have been in little ruts this season but it’s how long do you stay in those ruts and how you come out of it?” K-State sixth-year coach Pete Hughes said. ”That’s a resilient group of guys; and it doesn’t happen with selfish people, either. These guys are team guys.
“They can handle a lot of adversity. They know how to bounce back.”
The scrappy mentality was born partially of a midseason, 11th inning rally at Northeastern, where the Wildcats saw a 7-0 lead disappear. A 12-inning gut-check against Oklahoma State preceded a DH-nightcap victory to avoid a TCU sweep. Finally, an eighth-inning rally to take the Kansas opener.
K-State finished a mere 6-6 for the final dozen contests — in which it hit a mere .220 during May after a Nebraska no-hitter — but the Wildcats’ inner drive recognized that more complete team outings would turn the tide.
The Wildcats’ responded to bat .333 during the Fayetteville which set up this weekend’s super regional, K-State’s first since 2013 and second overall.
The next destination is Davenport Field. a place where the Virginia Cavaliers have played host to back-to-back super regionals.
The Wildcats (35-24) invade Charlottesville with an expectation to repeat that very unexpected Arkansas performance. If they do, they’ll head to Omaha.
Both teams went 3-0 last week with bizarre finishes that postseason play often beckons.
“I came to Kansas State for that reason… to go to Omaha, to help this program go to Omaha,” said Friday starter Owen Boerema, who is 6-3 in 18 starts during his second season.
“That’s why all of us came back and we scheduled that way and hit that tough part of the schedule. It’s just prepared us for this moment and being able to play at our highest level.”
Virginia seeks its second consecutive Omaha trip after a 2023 ACC Coastal title in which it routed Duke before TCU ousted the Cavaliers from the CWS bracket. Still, it was the program’s fifth 50-win season to launch Virginia toward a 44-15 mark in the 2024 season.
Boerema went four innings against Louisiana Tech last week before a struggle with command. He and the Wildcat staff need to be on-point at Charlottesville because every Cavalier player in the lineup bats above .300 average, led by Bobby Whalen (.384, 151 ABs). These teams’ shortstops will be focal points for each staff, with K-State’s Kaelen Culpepper and Griff O’Ferrall for Virginia.
“We know it’s going to be a grind,” Culpepper said. “Virginia’s a really good team and we expect them to put up a battle. We’re going to do the same thing. We’re a tough team as well.”
O’Ferrall bats leadoff for the Cavaliers and three-time national coach of the year Brian O’Connor, now in his 21st season with five CWS appearances in his pocket, including the 2015 NCAA championship.
K-State reliever Tyson Neighbors described super regionals as pressure-free baseball on a big stage: “Just keep that momentum going throughout this weekend and accomplish our goal and make it to Omaha.”
The super regional will be a best-of-three series. Game 1 is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. while Game 2 will be Saturday at 2 p.m. and Game 3, if necessary, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be televised on ESPNU.
