Twelve unanswered runs backed Lincoln Sheffield’s complete game, as Kansas State baseball downed Arizona State, 12-1, in seven innings Sunday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium, avoiding a sweep in the Wildcats’ first home conference series.

Trailing 1-0 headed into the bottom of the third, K-State erupted 12 runs over a three-inning span to secure its sixth run-rule victory of the season, and fourth in the last seven games.

Seven different players contributed to the Wildcats’ 14-hit performance, led by three-hit games from Shintaro Inoue, Carlos Vasquez and Ty Smolinski.

With the win, K-State improves to 17-7 overall with a 3-3 mark in Big 12 play, while ASU moved to 17-6 and 4-2 league action.

“I thought it was a great day for our program,” eighth-year head coach Pete Hughes said in a statement. “It speaks to the toughness of our team, the character of our team and the resiliency of this squad after two heartbreaking losses when you had the game in hand on Friday and Saturday. It’s frustrating for everyone, but for our guys to show up with energy and dictate the tempo of the game off a seasoned veteran pitcher was great to watch. It’s just really a great win for our program.”

Sheffield tossed his first complete game of the season and the second of his K-State career, improving to 5-0 on the year. The Flowood, Mississippi native surrendered one run in the opening frame but settled in to retire 15 of the last 20 batters he faced, while allowing just one runner to reach scoring position in his longest outing of the season. He finished with six strikeouts and one walk to pick up his 12th career victory at K-State.

“I can’t speak enough about Lincoln Sheffield and his performance against one of the top offenses in the country that was on fire,” Hughes added. “He kept them at bay and allowed our offense to get settled in. I also can’t say enough about our offensive game plan and the discipline on a day like this. When the wind is blowing in, you have to be super disciplined to execute the run game, the bunt game, and hit line drives and ground balls, and keep the ball out of the air. We were able to do all those things to get 14 hits in those conditions, which is just as impressive as Lincoln’s performance.”

Saturday

In a game that featured 31 hits and 30 runs, Arizona State rallied in the ninth to pull away with an 18-12 series-clinching victory Saturday at Tointon Family Stadium.

The two squads went run-for-run, until the Wildcats carried an 11-10 lead into the ninth inning behind Dee Kennedy’s 11th home run of the season. ASU responded with eight runs to put away the game and secure the series win.

“We had a good fight and played well enough to win in a lot of areas, but we came up short,” Hughes said in a separate statement. “It’s frustrating for all of us to fight back and have leads late, especially at home, and not finish. We’ll show tomorrow and leave it all on the field.” 

Nine different players produced a hit for K-State in Saturday’s contest, led by Dee Kennedy with his third four-hit game of the season. The junior from Fort Worth went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI, that included a towering 478-foot, two-run blast in the eighth. Additionally, Shea McGahan and Nick English homered, while it was McGahan’s first at K-State.

It marked the Wildcats’ first home series loss since March 2024 against Texas. Entering the series, K-State had won 11 consecutive home series.

Friday

Eight strikeouts from Cole Carlon and a solo homer by Landon Hairston helped Arizona State overcome a late one-run deficit to take a 5-4 series-opening victory Friday night at Tointon Family Stadium.

Trailing 4-3 entering the eighth, ASU pushed a run across the plate on a double play to even the score before Hairston belted his ninth home run of the season for the go-ahead run.

“You’ll have a couple of moments during a Friday night game in this conference where you have to capitalize, and we were unable to do that,” Hughes said in another statement. “We did a very good job against [Cole Carlon], creating some offense. When you’re at home, you want to have the lead late, were able to do that with big hits by Dee [Kennedy] and Carlos [Vasquez] but didn’t play clean enough to sustain the lead and finish. Looking to play better in front of these great crowds and get back in this series tomorrow.”

K-State had seven different players produce a hit, including home runs by Dee Kennedy and Cadyn Karl. With his 10th home run of the season, Kennedy became the fastest player to reach 10 homers in a single season in the Hughes era.

Up next

The Wildcats return to Tointon Family Stadium to host Nebraska (18-6, 5-1 Big Ten) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT. The midweek matchup marks the second meeting between the two squads this season, with K-State taking game one, 5-3, at Globe Life Field in Week 2. Tuesday’s game can be seen on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.