Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WICHITA, Kan.- Wichita State (39-12) collected two wins on Wednesday evening, defeating Northern Colorado (10-28) 12-6 in game one before downing the Bears, 8-1, in the night cap. The offense roared as the Shockers collected 20 runs and 31 hits on the day.

 

Game Two

 

WSU starter Max Hutson and reliever Khol Nanney combined for eight shutout innings in game two, while the offense delivered 11 hits to defeat Northern Colorado, 8-1.

 

Hutson improved to 1-2 on the year, throwing a no-hitter through 5.1 innings. The junior struck out a career-high seven and gave up only one hit, a single to Cory Morales, before being relieved by Nanney. Nanney kept the rhythm going, getting a double play to end the sixth and gave up only one hit over the next two innings.

 

UNC's sole run came in the top of the ninth against closer Dusty Coleman. The freshman allowed a run off of a walk and two singles, sandwiched between two strikeouts. The final out was a fly ball to center field.

 

Wichita State took advantage of an early walk to Damon Sublett with a double from Conor Gillaspie. Gillaspie dropped one into shallow left field as Anthony Garcia made a sliding effort, but came up short.

 

Matt Brown doubled off the right field wall, moved up on a fly ball from Gillaspie and scored on a ground ball from Danny Jackson.

 

Blake Hurlbutt won a 10-pitch battle against UNC starter T.R. Keating by drawing a lead-off walk in the fifth. Back-to-back bunt singles by Andy Dirks and Sublett loaded the bases and Brown brought one in with a sacrifice fly to center field. Gillaspie collected his fourth RBI of the night with a single through the right side.

 

Brown and Gillaspie didn't let up in the eighth, leading off with a single through the right side and double in the right-center gap, respectively. The runners then took advantage of wild pitches, advancing and scoring on balls that went to the back stop as Derek Schermerhorn drew an easy walk. Eric Skufca came on in relief of Brian Sizemore, but wasn't much better, allowing Shermerhorn to reach third on a passed ball and another wild pitch. The senior easily cruised home on a gapper to right-center from catcher Cody Lassley, who came around and scored via an error by the shortstop.

 

Gillaspie led the offense in game two with a 3-for-4 performance, adding two RBI and a run. Brown went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

 

Game One

 

Game one went back and forth, but the Shockers poured on the runs in the eighth inning, to come out with the 12-6 win.

 

With the game's end drawing near, Wichita State was down one with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. But the offense came through and exploded for seven runs on six hits. Dusty Coleman reached on an error by the shortstop and Tyler Hill hit a single through the right side in his first at bat, a pinch hit appearance. Andy Dirks bounced a ball over the center field fence for a ground-rule double that plated one to knot the game. Damon Sublett was intentionally walked, loading the bases, and Matt Brown hit a sacrifice fly to left field that drove in the run that gave WSU the lead.

 

But the Shockers kept it going with RBI singles from Conor Gillaspie and Danny Jackson. Josh Workman doubled to right field to score two and Tyler Weber capped the inning with a single through the left side, driving home Workman for a comfortable 12-6 cushion for closer Noah Krol.

 

The Bears had jumped to an early lead with a two-run homerun from Adam Symons. The junior second baseman hit the ball off the right field foul pole to put Northern Colorado up 2-0.

 

Matt Smith hit consecutive batters with two outs in the third. A single by Kevin Sandberg was fired right back at the pitcher and made its way to center field, scoring Cory Morales.

 

Wichita State cut the lead to 3-2 with a string of singles in the bottom of the fourth. Brown placed one in shallow center field before the Bears managed two outs. But WSU wasn't done, pounding out three consecutive hits to drive in two runs. Workman and Weber hit into the right-center gap and Coleman shot one through the left side of the infield.

 

Sublett, Brown and Gillaspie put together another run of singles to even the score as Gillaspie's hit, in the hole between second and first, drove in one. Brown tagged on a sacrifice fly from Jackson and crossed to give the Shockers their first lead, 4-3, in the bottom of the fifth.

 

Jackson collected his second RBI of the game with a ground out to first base. Sublett led off the inning by bunting for a base hit, advanced to third on an error by the shortstop, and crossed with the help of Jackson's grounder.

 

The Bears regained the lead in the top of the eighth. Sean Zyer led off with a single before Krol took over on the mound. The senior righty walked his first batter, allowed a bunt single to Zach Brockman and threw wildly to first allowing runners to reach second and third and one run to score. A double in the left-center gap from Chad Murray plated two more, putting UNC back on top, 6-5.

 

Dirks was on fire for the Shockers, going 4-for-5 with one run and one RBI. Workman and Weber each went 3-for-5 with two RBI and Workman scored two runs.

 

Krol (1-1), Smith and Jared Simon combined for 15 strikeouts while issuing one walk and seven hits. Reliever Chris Reap (2-5) took the loss for the Bears, allowing five unearned runs over 2.1 innings.

 

-Wichita State-