Kansas State Baseball 2026 at Houston
· Yahoo Sports
As we head into spring break week in Manhattan, your Kansas State Wildcats will have to wait a few days to relax as they are on the road this weekend to open Big 12 play at Houston.
Visit een-wit.pl for more information.
K-State (13-4) is coming off a solid series sweep last weekend and a great midweek with a back-and-forth win over Wichita State on Tuesday, and their first shutout of the season against South Dakota State on Wednesday. Despite starting out the season on the road, this will be just the second true road series for the Wildcats. Last road series, the Cats failed to pick up a win in two games against Louisiana-Lafayette. They’ll be looking for better success this weekend in Houston.
The Cougars head into the weekend at 11-5, starting the season with a sweep through the Puerto Rico Challenge, including an opening-day win over #21 Wake Forest, then picked up a win against UTRGV in their first game at home before dropping the next two games and the series. They picked up a 5-4 win over Sam Houston on the road in Hunstville, before continuing to head north to Frisco for the Frisco Classic. They dropped games to Oregon State and Iowa before picking up an 8-2 win over Alabama to finish the classic. They’ve won their last four, all at home, sweeping Arkansas-Pine Bluff last weekend, and picking up an 8-inning 13-1 win over Rice back on Tuesday.
Based on preseason projections, this is a series K-State should win, with the Cats picked 7th and the Cougars down at 12th (which is actually third from the bottom as Iowa State and Colorado do not have teams). 2-1 isn’t the worst, but really the Cats should be looking to sweep the Cougars this weekend.
All games here in Houston are at Schroeder Park in Houston and will be available on online via KMAN and at KStateSports.com/watch with Brian Smoller calling the action there. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+, with a Houston crew on the broadcast.
Game 1James Guyette takes the mound tonight at 6:30pm CT for his fifth start of the season. The junior righty went six innings last Friday against SIUE, giving up five runs on seven hits, three of those over the fence, and three free bases; but he tossed eight strikeouts and the BatCat offense put enough points on the board for it not to matter and he picked up his second win of the season. The five runs pushed his ERA back up to 4.50 after dropping under 4.00 before last week.
The Cat batters will face senior right-hander Paul Schmitz to open the game. Schmitz is a large human, standing 6’8” with a listed weight of 250lbs, and the German is also making his fifth start of the season. Schmitz is in his second season as a regular weekend starter, but has struggled a bit here in the early going of 2026, pichting just a combined five innings in his last two starts, giving up five runs on seven hits to Iowa and seven runs on fours hits to Arkansas-Pine Bluff last Friday.
Game 2Saturday night is also set for a 6:30pm CT first-pitch. Tanner Duke makes his third start of the season and second Saturday start, as the junior right-hander had a strong start to pick up his first win of the season. Duke gave up three runs on two hits and five free bases, but tossed seven strikeouts in his five innings of work, and again the BatCat offense gave him enough firepower on the other side to pick up the win over SIUE.
Houston will send to the mound Kendall Hoffman to face the Cat batters. The 6’6” right-handed sophomore from Florida is also making his fifth start of the season, and despite an ERA of just 1.90 has only picked up one win so far this season. He went 7.2 innings in his start against Alabama two weeks ago, giving up just two runs on five hits in what was his only win. Last week he went seven innings against UAPB giving up two runs on three hits.
Game 3Sunday’s start time is set for 1:00pm CT, and Lincoln Sheffield will again take the bump for the Cats. The senior lefty has been solid as the bookend so far this season, going 4-0 on the season. Last time out, Sheffield gave up four runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks, while tossing eight strikeouts in K-State’s 20-7 obliteration of SIUE to end the series a couple innings early. Those three runs pushed his ERA back up over 4.00, landing at 4.24 heading in to Sunday’s finale.
Houston has not yet named a starter for the finale. Freshman right-hander Connor Udland made the start last Sunday against UAPB, going five innings giving up just one hit while tossing five strikeouts.