April 22, 2008

Manhattan, KS (UWIRE) -- The Big 12 Conference is known as one of the premier baseball conferences in the nation, with traditional powers like Texas and Nebraska competing every year for an NCAA Championship.

Kansas State will get its chance to face off against one of the premier teams in the nation outside the Big 12 on Tuesday, with the University of California-Irvine Anteaters traveling to Manhattan. The first of a two-game series begins at 6:30 tonight at Tointon Family Stadium.

One of coach Brad Hill's primary goals at the beginning of this season was to expose his Wildcat baseball team to a more competitive nonconference schedule. The likes of Creighton and Wichita State, two tradition-rich teams that K-State plays annually, were joined this season by UC-Irvine and Arizona State. Both teams have been ranked in the top 10 nationally at some point in the 2008 season and were participants in the College World Series a year ago.

"It's a great opportunity for our kids to compete in those types of situations," Hill said. "It's good for the program. If you want to take the program to the next level you have to challenge your team. The goal is to take this team to the next level and the upper echelon of the Big 12."

The Wildcats spent last weekend in Lubbock, Texas, where they took two out of three games from the Texas Tech Red Raiders. With the series win, Hill's team moved up into a tie with Kansas for seventh in the Big 12 standings. The starting pitcher for K-State on Tuesday will be junior Lance Hoge. Hoge is 1-3 on the year with a 3.94 ERA and has recorded 19 strikeouts on the year.

The two-game series with UC-Irvine will mark the sixth time this season K-State has matched up in a series against a ranked opponent. UC-Irvine is ranked No. 11 in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN poll with a 24-9 record. Just a year ago, UC-Irvine qualified for its first College World Series and posted a 2-2 record before being eliminated by future champions Oregon State.

"RPI is so important in college baseball, and preparation for the Big 12 is so important that you have to play competition just to get there," Hill said.

(C) 2008 Kansas State Collegian via UWIRE