AUSTIN, Texas – Keegan O’Connor launched his record-breaking 17th home run, and Lincoln Sheffield fired 6 2/3 shutout innings as the No. 3 seed Wildcats handed fourth-seeded Houston Christian a 7-4 loss on Saturday to remain alive in the 2025 NCAA Austin Regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
“Get another day playing and coaching with this team,” said head coach Pete Hughes, who improved to 4-1 in the regional games at K-State. “It’s a good day. Our guys showed up with energy, all predicated off a great start by Lincoln Sheffield.
That was the key to today. We needed someone to settle us in and let our offense get to work a little bit. And that’s what, exactly what Lincoln did. Got the big home run from Keegan – he’s been getting big hits for us all year long,” Hughes added.
With his 6 2/3 scoreless innings, Sheffield set the record for most shutout innings by a starter in K-State’s NCAA postseason history. He became just the second starter to leave opponents scoreless in a postseason start, surpassing Ty Ruhl, who logged four shutout innings in the 2024 NCAA Fayetteville Regional Championship game.
Sheffield retired 10 consecutive batters before allowing a hit in the fourth inning, as he registered his fifth quality start of the year and improved his record to 7-4. The junior lefty carried a two-hitter into the seventh inning and capped his 15th start retiring 19 of the 25 batters he faced with six strikeouts and two walks. He became the fourth pitcher in school history to strike out six in a single postseason game to match the Cats’ postseason record.
O’Connor, who entered the day tied with Scott Poepard, Heath Schesser and Dyan Phillips with 16 home runs, broke the mark, that was established in 1997, with a three-run blast in the bottom of the third. The graduate from Andover, Massachusetts belted his 17th homer at 104-mph off the bat to etch his name in K-State history.
“Still, we left a lot of runs out there. We’re sloppy. We can’t be doing that at the end of May, and we’re not going to be able to do that tomorrow if we want to win two games and the only way to win two games is win that first one, but you cannot leave runners in scoring position, and you got to play airtight baseball for one complete day, for two games.”
K-State hit .167 (2-for-12) with runners in scoring position, while going 1-for-9 with two away against the Huskies.
With the win, Hughes notched his 200th victory at K-State, becoming the fastest baseball coach in school history to reach the milestone. He achieved his 200th win in 367 games, surpassing former Wildcat head coach Mike Clark by 22 games.
“We have an administration that supports baseball and allows us to really flip our brand and flip our program. It doesn’t happen without the support of your AD and your administration. That’s not just pat on the back support too.
There’s plenty of financial resources that are committed to our program that allows us to go and recruit really good players and really good families, and let the results show on the field. Not really concerned with the 200, concerned with 201 and 202. So, it’s a big day for us tomorrow.”
K-State improved to 33-25 on the year and will play in an elimination game against the loser of Saturday’s second game between No. 1-seed Texas (43-12) and No. 2-seed UTSA (45-13) at 2 p.m. on Sunday at. Houston Christian was eliminated from the tournament, finishing its 2025 campaign with a record of 32-25.
Sunday’s elimination game will stream on ESPN+ and the ESPN app, while radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Network with a free live streaming audio on kstatesports.com/watch.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sheffield set the tone early, as the senior lefty fanned the first batter of the game in four pitchers before retiring 10 straight.
Shintaro Inoue led off with a double into left-center and advanced 90-feet with a grounder up the middle by Dee Kennedy until the junior scored on a throwing error for the Huskies’ third baseman.
After a scoreless second frame, Inoue, Kennedy and Dardar each singled to double the Cats’ lead and bring O’Connor to the plate. The graduate barreled the first pitch 372-feet over the right field wall to stretch the Cats lead out to five, 5-0.
HCU ended the shutout in the eighth and utilized three hits to pull the game within three, highlighted by a two-out, two-run single from Rhett Hendricks.
The Wildcats immediately answered with a pair of runs led by singles from AJ Evasco and Sam Flores.
In the top of the ninth, momentum shifted back in favor of the Huskies as a two-run homer from Rader bridged the gap to three, but the Cats held off the rally to survive and advance in the region.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State scored seven runs on 10 hits, committed no errors and stranded seven on base.
- HCU scored four runs on eight hits with three errors committed and seven left on base.
- Sheffield (7-4) was awarded the victory, logging 6 2/3 shutout innings and allowing four hits with six strikeouts.
- Seven different Wildcats produced a hit, led by two hit-days from Inoue and Evasco.
- O’Connor drove in a game-high three RBI with a three-run homer in the third.
- Butler was spotted for four runs, all earned, on four hits in his 2 1/3 innings in relief of Sheffield.
- Caravalho (9-4) took the loss, surrendering five runs (four earned) on six hits in 3 2/3 innings.
- Five players registered a hit for HCU with Dutka, Payne, and Hendricks each hitting two.
- K-State hit .313 with runners on base and .167 (2-for-12) in scoring position, while going 1-for-9 with two outs.
- HCU was 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-9 with two outs, driving in two RBI with two away.
TEAM NOTES
- Hughes picked up his 200th career win at K-State, becoming the fastest baseball coach in school history to reach the milestone.
- Saturday’s contest marked the seventh game in K-State’s postseason history that it achieved 10 or more hits.
- K-State is 10-7 all-time during the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, including 4-1 in the Hughes era.
- Sheffield set the record for most shutout innings by a starter in K-State’s NCAA postseason history (6 2/3 innings).
- He became the fourth pitch in school history to strikeout six in a single-postseason game, which tied the record.
- O’Connor became the single-season home run record holder with his 17th homer.
2025 NCAA AUSTIN REGIONAL
Friday, May 30
1 p.m. CT – Game 1: No. 1 Texas 7, Houston Christian 1
6 p.m. CT – Game 2: No. 2 UTSA 10, K-State 2
Saturday, May 31
2 p.m. CT – Game 3: No. 3 K-State 7, No. 4 Houston Christian 4
8 p.m. CT – Game 4: No. 2/1 Texas vs. No. 2 UTSA
Sunday, June 1
2 p.m. CT – Game 5: No. 3 K-State vs Game 4 Loser
6 p.m. CT – Game 6: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
