Rounding Third: K-State visits Stillwater for its first series in the polls

No. 22 Kansas State faces Oklahoma State for its first match up as a ranked team this season. The Wildcats (8-1) are first in the Big 12, while the Pokes (1-6) are placed at the bottom. The last time OSU finished near the bottom of the conference was in 2017, where Brad Hill's Wildcats edged the Pokes for worst in the league.

Historically, K-State doesn't fare well upon entering the top 25. Defeating Wichita State 13-10 showed that the Wildcats can prove the voters right, but the Shockers nearly rallied to win the Wednesday contest. Regardless of OSU's standing, the Pokes tout a 7-3 record in Stillwater.

The Cowboys' starting pitching is competitive enough to keep its sluggers in the game. OSU lost its Big 12 opener by two runs to West Virginia, defeated Utah 5-4 in game two of that series and lost to Kansas 2-5 in game one and 11-12 in extras on Saturday.

Scrolling on fans twitter-X feeds, the consensus is that OSU struggles hitting with runners in scoring position, which reflects on the stat sheet. The Pokes are at 173 runs batted in (RBI) compared to the Wildcats' 209 RBI. K-State leads OSU on paper in every major statistical category: batting average; On-base plus slugging (OPS); runs; hits; home runs; RBI; slugging; and stolen bases. In fact, the one characteristic OSU has yet to waver during the 2025 campaign is its home run ability.

Check out the team numbers

Batting Average

K-State: .294

OSU: .265

OPS

K-State: .931

OSU: .849

Runs

K-State: 237

OSU: 185

Hits

K-State: 277

OSU: 231

Home runs

K-State: 52

OSU: 42

Slugging

K-State: .528

OSU: .477

Stolen Bases

K-State: 48

OSU: 23

Apart from starting pitchers Harrison Bodendorf and Hunter Watkins, OSU puts together a quality bullpen from guys like Ryan Ure, Mario Pesca and Sean Youngerman and Matthew Brown. Expect Sunday to be a methodical bullpen game from the Pokes pitching staff, throwing a number of these guys out on the mound.

Ure started the previous two Sundays and is listed at 4.60 earned runs average (ERA). The junior is 1-3 on the year but boasts a 1.34 walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP) ratio in 15.2 innings. He has also tallied 22 strikeouts this season. Unfortunately, the consistency isn't there. In his last outing, Ure surrendered three runs in three frames at KU. In fact, Ure's performances against Big 12 teams aren't favorable for the Pokes, allowing 6 earned runs in 4.1 innings.

OSU's Bodendorf leads the staff with 41 strikeouts, tied with K-State's Sunday starter Lincoln Sheffield. However, Bodendorf averages just over 4 innings an outing, while Watkins has 33 Ks in the same average of frames.

Comparatively, K-State has three secure starters in Jacob Frost (4.45 ERA), Michael Quevedo (4.41 ERA) and Sheffield (4.86 ERA), with Blake Dean usually making the first appearance out of the pen. Dean has collected 30 strikeouts in 26.1 innings. As a team, K-State has seven pitchers under a 5 ERA with at least 10 innings pitched. The Pokes have five pitchers total under 5 ERA with at least 10 innings pitched.

The top performers to watch from the plate is K-State's Maximus Martin "The Gladiator," who holds a steady .412 BA with 12 homers, nine doubles and 39 RBI. The Wildcats have five batters hitting over .300, but Bear Madliak might be the second most clutch stick on the team and he's sitting at .282 BA. Meanwhile, Colin Brueggemann has a .343 BA and Nolan Schubart has a .302 average. The rest of OSU's batters are hitting .286 or below.

Conclusion & Prediction

K-State hasn't won a series in Stillwater since sweeping a two-game contest in 2009. Despite all of the flaws in this Cowboys roster, OSU is 7-3 at home and I would expect the Pokes to win at least one game this weekend. I predict K-State to win two games at OSU by an average of 8-5.

First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN-plus.