Louisiana’s Drew Markle hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 3-2 walk-off victory over Kansas State baseball Wednesday night at M.L. Tigue Moore Field.

K-State drops to 6-3 on the season, suffering back-to-back road losses to the Ragin’ Cajuns before Friday’s home opener. The Wildcats’ 6-1 mark entering the midweek series was their best start since 2010.

Trailing 2-1 headed into the ninth, third baseman Grant Gallagher belted a game-tying home run to keep K-State in the game. With the score tied at 2-all, Markle unloaded on a 2-2 pitch for the deciding run and hand Louisiana (7-2) its seventh consecutive win.

“Good effort by our team tonight,” head coach Pete Hughes said in a statement. “Disappointing result. We lost that game many times before the last swing. That one will sting for a while, as it should, but our guys are tough enough to learn from these games and will bounce back. We look forward to coming home.

Reliever Cohen Feser (1-1) was tagged for the loss after allowing the game-winning home run in the 11th. The redshirt-senior went 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on the home run with a walk and strikeout.

Louisiana’s Bryce Wilson (1-0) was credited with the win, limiting the Wildcats to one hit through two scoreless innings.

How it happened

A sacrifice fly from Rigoberto Hernandez pulled Louisiana ahead in the opening frame. After surrendering the run, starter Matt Flores set down nine consecutive batters before running into trouble, forcing K-State to make a call to the pen.

Tazwell Butler relieved Flores in the fourth, inheriting a bases loaded situation with two outs. The righty struck out the batter in four pitches to get out of the inning. Butler went on to retire 10 straight batters to allow the offense to get back in the game.

After 15 consecutive scoreless innings, the Wildcats pushed a run across the plate with Gallagher’s two-out hit to right field to score Dee Kennedy, who doubled in the previous at bat.

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Louisiana took advantage of a throwing error to take back to the lead.

Gallagher continued his hot streak as the senior homered 416-feet to straight-away center at 102-mph off the bat to lead off the ninth – his second home run of the season.

With one out, Markle hit a solo shot to left to capture the win and complete the two-game series sweep.

Tuesday’s result

Three pitchers combined to shut out K-State Tuesday night, while a solo home run by Mark Collins handed Louisiana a 1-0 victory.

“Both teams pitched well tonight, and both teams played very good defense,” Hughes said in a separate statement. “A big hit or a big error usually decides these games, and today Louisiana got the big hit. Tanner Duke settled in and deserved a better outcome.”

In his second start of the season, Sawyer Pruitt (2-0) allowed just three hits and struck out nine, as the freshman held the Wildcats scoreless over six innings in the win. The right-hander’s nine strikeouts were the most by any Ragin’ Cajun this season, while he ended the night issuing three walks. Hayden Pearson tossed two hitless innings in relief of Pruitt before handing the ball over to Garrett Carter, who recorded his second save of the year.

Duke (0-1) held the Ragin’ Cajuns to one run in his second start of the season. The junior right-hander scattered three hits over his career-high 6 1/3 innings, issuing one walk with a season-high five strikeouts.

Up next

K-State will open the home slate of the 2026 schedule this weekend, as the Wildcats start off an eight-game homestand with a series against Columbia (0-3) at Tointon Family Stadium.

The series will now feature a Friday doubleheader, starting at 2 p.m. CT. Game 2 of Friday’s doubleheader will start approximately 45 minutes at the conclusion of Game 1, while Saturday’s contest will still be played at 1 p.m.