MANHATTAN, Kan. – Freshman Colin Kennedy had the best performance of his young career on the mound for the La Salle University baseball team on Sunday, but the Explorers fell to Kansas State, 5-1, concluding the three-game road series.
 
Kennedy (0-1) scattered just three earned runs and six hits over five innings of work, striking out a career-best 10 batters.
 
Kansas State led from the first inning, when Jake Biller hit an RBI double to make it 1-0. The Wildcats later added a run on a sacrifice fly in the third inning and another on an RBI single in the fourth to take a 3-0 advantage.
 
It wasn't until the eighth inning when La Salle finally got on the board. Senior Chase Arnold hit an RBI single to right field, allowing junior Ben Faso to score to briefly cut the deficit to two at 3-1.
 
However, Jordan Maxson added a pair of insurance runs for the Wildcats on a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. La Salle had an opportunity with two runners on and no outs in the ninth, but nothing came of it, as Kansas State locked up the victory.
 
Sophomore Niko Jenkins and freshman Matt Patricio combined to throw two scoreless innings in relief. Arnold, Faso and freshman Tommy Toal each went 2-for-4 on the day.
 
La Salle (4-7) tallied 10 hits, finishing with 39 hits during the series. Kansas State improved to 7-4 with the sweep.
 
The Explorers will head to Missouri for a three-game set beginning on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.