Kansas State baseball was unable to overcome the 18th-ranked Mountaineers’ five-run fourth inning Sunday, as West Virginia completed the series sweep with a 13-6 win at Wagener Field at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

The loss marked seven straight dropped contests for the Wildcats — K-State’s longest losing streak under eighth-year head coach Pete Hughes.

Facing a six-run deficit after seven innings, K-State (26-22, 9-15 Big 12) rallied to pull the game within three, fueled by Shea McGahan’s three-run blast.

West Virginia (31-12, 16-8 Big 12) responded with six runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away, highlighted by a trio of home runs.

“We played poorly in every phase of the game,” Hughes said in a statement. “We created big innings for our opponents. We gave them big innings that we could not damage control. We played losing baseball across the board.

“I say ‘we’ because we all have ownership,” he continued. “Our injuries had nothing to do with today. We played well below our skill level and were poor fundamentally. That’s on me and it’ll be fixed. You can have injuries as an excuse, but you can’t be poor fundamentally.” 

Saturday

West Virginia’s Chansen Cole held K-State to one run over nine innings to lift the No. 18 Mountaineers to a 9-1 victory Saturday afternoon.

Cole threw 120 pitches in his first complete game, and the team’s first of the season, limiting the Wildcats to five hits with nine strikeouts and one walk. 

West Virginia backed Cole’s performance by scoring nine runs over a four-inning span to secure the Big 12 series and hand the Wildcats their sixth consecutive loss.

“Our guys played hard. We had some quality at-bats throughout, but they didn’t pay off,” Hughes said in a separate statement. “In the end, we didn’t play adequate enough defense to win.”

Friday

A pair of West Virginia pitchers combined to shut out K-State Friday night, as the Mountaineers defeated the Wildcats, 7-0.

“We had a difficult time building scoring opportunities the entire night,” Hughes said in another statement. “[Maxx] Yehl and [Ian] Korn were really good and really limited our offense.”

Right-hander Maxx Yehl tossed five shutout innings of three-hit ball to earn the win, striking out eight of the 21 batters he faced. Ian Korn entered the game in the sixth and held the Wildcats to one hit over the final four frames to pick up his first save.

In his first start since April 16, 2025, Butler (0-3) limited the Mountaineers to three earned runs over 5 2/3 innings. He finished the night allowing eight hits and issuing two walks, while striking out three.

Up next

Due to forecasted inclement weather, K-State and Missouri State officials have canceled Tuesday’s contest between the Wildcats and Bears at Hammons Field.

Additionally, Wednesday’s game at Tointon Family Stadium with Omaha has also been canceled.

Tuesday’s non-conference game was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. CT, while Wednesday was slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch.