Series Preview: #21 Texas at Kansas State

The 21st ranked Texas Longhorns travel to Manhattan, Kansas this weekend for a three game series against the Kansas State Wildcats at Tointon Family Stadium. The Wildcats are 12-8 on the season after taking one game out of three against Texas A&M last weekend to open Big XII play. The Wildcats are batting .310 as a team so far this season, with three players hitting over .400, but also share a rather high team ERA of 5.50. Kansas State is a formidable home opponent, garnering a 6-1 record there.

Players to Watch:

Kayvon Bahramzadeh (#23): Senior right-hander Kayvon Bahramzadeh is the Sunday starter for Kansas State this year. Last season, he faced a No. 5 ranked Texas team and held the Longhorns to one run over five innings while the Wildcats took the lead. (Texas came back and took the game to extra innings, eventually winning on a walk-off double by Brandon Loy in the bottom of the 14th.) This season, Bahramzadeh holds a 3-1 record over four starts, with a 4.56 ERA, giving out 9 walks while striking out 20.

Jared King (#24): Sophomore center fielder Jared King is hitting a torrid pace of .431 for the season with 72 at bats, accruing three home runs and seven doubles. While he only has 14 RBI that can be attributed to the other hitters not getting on in front of him. He has stolen five bases out of seven attempts, so he appears to be an all around player that can hurt you at the plate and on the base paths.

Also of note is senior slugger Wade Hinkle, who leads the team in OBP at .538 and home runs, with 4 on the season.

Game one of the series at Kansas State is scheduled for a 6:30pm start on Friday, March 23. The forecast looks mostly clear for this weekend with only a 30% chance of showers today into the early evening hours. All three games in this series will be televised on Fox College Sports Central, channel 432 on Time Warner or channel 648 on AT&T U-verse in Austin