Date: March 30, 2016
Location: Wichita, Kan.
Stadium: Wilkins Stadium
Live Audio: www.goshockers.com/watch
Talent: Steve Strain
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=129308
Series: Tulsa leads, 21-20
 
Scouting Tulsa:
The Golden Hurricane have started the 2016 season with a strong 23-6 record overall and 2-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Tulsa has a perfect 5-0 record when playing at home.
 
Juli Hollingsworth has started 19 of the 29 games this season and has a team-high batting average of .393. Closely behind her is Maggie Withee who has started every game this season and has a batting average of .372 while hitting seven doubles and driving in eight runs. Withee has also drawn 15 walks.
 
In the circle, Caitlin sill has a 13-1 record with an ERA of 1.15 with 12 complete games while Emily Watson is 7-5 in 14 appearances with six complete games and an ERA of 1.67.
 
Series: Wichita State is 20-21 all-time against the Golden Hurricane and 1-1 during the Bredbenner era. The last time these two teams faced was last season when the Shockers lost 6-9 in the first matchup and won the second matchup, 7-2.
 
Shockers News and Notes:
2016: The Shockers are coming off a very strong week, going 3-1 and sweeping Loyola in their second weekend of conference play. On Tuesday, the Shockers took down the Kansas Jayhawks in an eight-inning battle to make the Shockers 17-12 overall.
 
So far this season, the Shockers have been led by Paige Luellen who is hitting .338 with eight doubles, two home runs and a team-high 27 RBI. Luellen also leads the team with 27 walks, the next closest is Macklin Hitz with 14.
 
Wichita State has two pitchers with over 60 innings pitched with Jenni Brooks with 68.2 and Katie Malone with 85.1. Brooks has an ERA of 2.55 and an overall record of 9-3. Brooks also holds an opponent batting average of .236. Malone has a record of 6-5 and an ERA of 4.18 and leads the pitching staff with 45 strikeouts.
 
But does she get on base?
Paige Luellen has reached base in 28 of the 29 games that the Shockers have played this season, ending her 33 game on-base streak at Kansas on Tuesday.
 
2015 In Review: Wichita State finished the 2015 season with an overall record of 34-23 and a 16-11 record in the Missouri Valley Conference giving the Shockers a fourth place finish.
 
Eight of Nine Starters Returning: Wichita State is returning every starter from the 2015 team except catcher Melanie Jaegers, who was a big contributor for the Shockers, hitting .282 and starting all 57 games. Among the position starters returning for Wichita State is Cacy Williams (first base/right field), Liz Broyles (second base), Kelli Spring (shortstop), Mackenzie Wright (third base), Brittany Fortner (left field), Ashley Johnson (center field) and Macklin Hitz (first base). Overall, these returners combined for a batting average of .328 while collecting 202 of the team's 272 RBIs and also hitting 35 of the team's 44 homeruns.
 
2015 All-MVC: The trio of returners, Fortner, Wright and Williams, along with Jaegers who graduated were all named 2015 First Team All-MVC, while Malone, Broyles and Spring were named Second Team All-MVC.
 
Fortner's Historic Season: Fortner finished her junior season with a .416 batting average (second in team history for a single season, tied for the Valley lead), 74 hits (tied the all-time hits record in a season in team history, led the Valley), 47 runs scored (led the Valley, third in team history for a single season), 45 RBIs (third in the Valley, third all-time in a single season in team history), 18 doubles (tied for second in the Valley, set the all-time team mark for doubles in a single season this season), 121 total bases (second in the Valley, second all-time in a single season in WSU SB history), a .502 OB% (second in the Valley) and 0.82 runs scored per game (led the Valley)
 
Climbing the ranks: After collecting her BLANK double of the season against Loyola, Brittany Fortner is currently second all-time in the Shocker record book with 50 doubles, needing three more to take over first place.
 
Williams is also tied for seventh in doubles (34).
 
Williams is in fifth place with 112 runs scored needing just three more to jump into the top three.
 
Fortner is also tied for eighth in hits (191), tied for eighth in homeruns (19), seventh in RBI (105), fifth in total bases (302) and tied for 10th in walks (71).
 
Williams is also second in homeruns (31) and fifth in RBI (109).
 
Missouri Valley favorites: Wichita State was picked as the 2016 MVC preseason favorite, as voted on by the Valley coaches. The Shockers collected 84 points and three first-place votes to make this the second year in a row that the Shockers have been the Missouri Valley favorites.
 
2016 Preseason All-MVC: After being named to the All-MVC First Team a season ago, Fortner, Wright and Williams have all been selected for the preseason All-MVC First Team.