As the eighth seed in an eight-team championship, Kansas State chances of making it beyond the second game in the Big 12 Baseball Championship were about as low as its tournament seed.
The Wildcats had their bats humming in their second outing against Oklahoma State after losing their opening-round game to conference regular-season champion and top-seed Baylor, but the Bears, facing elimination, shut down K-State in a rematch on Friday, 11-2, knocking the Wildcats out of the Championship.
Baylor scored two runs in the first and second innings and added single runs in the fourth and sixth to run off a 6-0 margin before K-State could get on the board. A four-spot in the eighth by Baylor put the game away.
The Bears were highly efficient offensively, scoring 11 runs on 11 hits off of six Kansas State pitchers. Baylor catcher Josh Ludy clubbed his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the Bears' four-run eighth. Left fielder Jon Davis of K-State hit a solo shot in the seventh. Trevor Bremer went eight innings for Baylor, yielding both of the Wildcats' runs on seven hits in recording his sixth win of the season to go with one loss.
Kansas State committed four errors, which did little to help the Wildcats' cause. Wildcat starter Robert Youngdahl only lasted 1.2 innings, giving up the first four Baylor runs. Kansas State finishes its season with a 27-31 overall record and 7-17, tied for seventh place in the conference.
Baylor, ranked in the top ten nationally, will now face No. 4 seed Oklahoma on Saturday. The Sooners defeated the Bears 3-2 in the second-round game for both teams, OU's fourth consecutive win this season over Baylor.
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