MANHATTAN, Kan. — Santa Clara scored the opening run of Friday's ballgame and got a quality start out of Jacob Steffens, and could not hold off a Wildcat rally in a 4-1 loss at Tointon Family Stadium. In just the second meeting between the programs, the Wildcats scored three in the fourth and added a run in the seventh.

Steffens (L, 2-2) pitched 6.0 innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts against the Wildcats (5-7). Jason Seever allowed one run in the seventh and Mitchell White pitched a scoreless eighth for the Broncos (7-6) out of the bullpen. 

TC Florentine led off the fourth with a walk for the Broncos and scored on Ryan Budnick's RBI groundout to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Santa Clara sent no more than four batters to the plate in any inning against the Kansas State pitching staff.

Wildcat starting pitcher Nate Griep (W, 2-1) struck out six batters in 7.0 innings and retired seven in a row to end his outing. Brandon Erickson (SV, 1) struck out one batter in the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.

Kansas State scored all three of its runs with two outs in the fourth inning. Tyler Moore hit an RBI single to center Max Brown followed with a two-run triple to right-center field to make the score 3-1. Carter Yagi's RBI single in the seventh drove in the fourth run of the game for the hosts.

Florentine led the Broncos by going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. The Broncos managed three hits in the loss, all of which came against the starter Griep.

Santa Clara and Kansas State play the second of their three-game series Saturday, with a 2 p.m. CST (12 p.m. PST) first pitch.

GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 3:04 p.m. CST … time of game was 2:21 … attendance was 2,667.