WICHITA, Kan. - After seven straight road games, Wichita State returns to Eck Stadium for a pair of midweek games vs. Northern Colorado beginning Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Quick Hits
• Both games will be broadcast on KNSS 1330 AM and on goshockers.com with Shane Dennis calling the action. The games will also be televised on The Valley on ESPN3 with Chris Solwecki and Denning Gerig.
• WSU leads the overall series with Northern Colorado 7-2 with all nine meetings coming in Wichita.
• WSU is 56th in the March 13 NCAA RPI, while Northern Colorado is 189th and Cal Poly is 231st. The Shockers are 0-6 against the top-50 and 1-6 against the top-100.
• The Shockers have won eight in a row at home, the 10th longest streak in the nation.
• WSU is 7-0 this season at Eck Stadium.
• In those seven home games, WSU is hitting .288 with a 1.57 ERA and .981 fielding percentage.
• At Eck this season, Greyson Jenista is hitting .379, while Jordan Boyer is hitting .375, Josh DeBacker is hitting .313, Alec Bohm is hitting .296, Trey Vickers is hitting .292 and Travis Young is hitting .286.
• WSU is 4-6 in the last 10 games.
• In those 10 games, WSU is hitting .231 with a 5.79 ERA and .966 fielding percentage.
• In the last 10 games, Alec Bohm and Greyson Jenista are hitting .333, while Alex Jackson is hitting .273 and Josh DeBacker is hitting .250.
• In the NCAA stats, WSU is 90th in double plays turned per game and 12th in shutouts. Individually, Ben Hecht is 37th in saves, Reagan Biechler is 87th in saves and Willie Schwanke and Cody Tyler are 13th in games started.
• WSU collected back-to-back shutouts on Feb. 25 of Grand Canyon. The last time WSU had two-straight was in 2013.
• WSU had a scoreless innings streak of 24.1 from Feb. 19-26. The streak ranks as the eighth longest in WSU history.
• Senior pitcher Reagan Biechler needs four more appearances to move into a tie for 24th in the Shocker record book for career appearances.
• All seven returning starters have homered in their last 71 at bats.
• WSU collected back-to-back shutouts on Feb. 25 of Grand Canyon. The last time WSU had two-straight was in 2013.
• WSU had a scoreless innings streak of 24.1 from Feb. 19-26. The streak ranks as the eighth longest in WSU history.
• Senior pitcher Reagan Biechler needs three more appearances to move into a tie for 24th in the Shocker record book for career appearances.
• All seven returning starters have homered in their last 62 at bats.
• Two Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Travis Young at 49 and Gunnar Troutwine at 16.
• WSU struck out seven-straight batters in the season opener against Utah Valley. It was the first time with six or more consecutive strikeouts since 2010.
• WSU plays 24 games in 2017 against teams that were in the top-100 in the RPI in 2016. Fifteen of those are games against teams in the top-50.
• The Shockers are now 85-7 all-time at home (Eck and Lawrence-Dumont) in the month of February.
• WSU is 576-229-2 all-time overall in the month of March.
• Since 1978, the Shockers are 18-11 on March 14 and 25-8 on March 15.
• WSU is now 29-11 in season openers since 1978.
• WSU is now 37-3 in home openers since 1978.
• The Shocks were picked tied for fourth in the MVC Preseason Poll.
• Sophomore designated hitter Alec Bohm and sophomore utility player Luke Ritter were named to the preseason all-Valley team.
• In 2016, Greyson Jenista was the first freshman to lead the Shockers in hitting since Pat Magness in 1997 and was just the fifth freshman overall.
• The Shockers welcome 13 newcomers in 2017.
• WSU returns seven starters and 15 letterwinners from the 2016 team.
• The Shocker pitching staff returns four starters including Willie Schwanke, Cody Tyler, Zach Lewis and Connor Lungwitz.
• Last season, Travis Young tied the freshman record for sacrifice hits in a season with seven and it was also the 12th most in the single season record books.
• Last season, Gunnar Troutwine had the fifth most assists by a catcher with 59.
• Head Coach Todd Butler is in his fourth season as coach of the Shockers.
• Assistant Coach Brian Walker is the third base coach and Volunteer Assistant Coach Codey McElroy is the first base coach.
Scouting Northern Colorado
The Bears are 8-9 overall after winning both games against Omaha on March 9. Wins this season have come against San Francisco, San Francisco State, San Jose State, North Dakota State three times and Omaha twice. Losses have come against San Francisco three times,
BYU twice, San Jose State, North Dakota State and Nebraska twice. As a team, UNC is hitting .277 with a 5.07 ERA and a .958 fielding percentage. The Bears are led offensively by Jack Pauley who is hitting .391 with four doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI. The Bears are
led by head coach Carl Iwasaki.
Series History vs. the Bears
Wichita State leads the overall series with the Bears 7-2. All nine meetings have come in Wichita in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2016. The Bears two wins were in 2005 and 2016.
Last Meeting vs. UNC
The last meeting between the two teams was a three-game series in Wichita Feb. 19-21, 2016. The Shockers won the first two games by scores of 11-0 and 17-2 and Northern Colorado won game three 4-3. Tanner Kirk led the Shockers going 5-for-7 with three RBI, while Trey Vickers went 5-for-10. Sam Tewes and Willie Schwanke each earned a win, while John Hayes took the loss.
Win in Norman
Wichita State collected a 4-2 win at No. 13 Oklahoma on March 7. It was the Shockers first win over a ranked team this season and snapped the Sooners nation-leading 12-game winning streak. It was just the third time in school history that the Shockers defeated Oklahoma in Norman. The other two times were 1992 and 2006.
Four-Headed Monster
Shocker pitchers Adam Keller, Reagan Biechler, Landon Holifield and Ben Hecht each made two appearances for Wichita State this week. The four of them combined to throw nine shutout innings in the four games, all against ranked teams. They allowed just two singles and struck out 13 in those nine innings.
Freshman Firsts
Two Shocker freshmen earned firsts this week. Freshman pitcher Tommy Barnhouse earned his first career win on March 7 at No. 13 Oklahoma. He pitched two innings in relief and allowed one unearned run with three strikeouts. Freshman outfielder Jacob Katzfey collected his first career-hit on March 11 at No. 6 LSU.
Combined Shutout
Wichita State collected its third shutout of the year on March 1 against Omaha. The Shockers used 10 pitchers to combine on the three-hit shutout. The 10 pitchers who combined on the shutout were juniors Chandler Sanburn, Tyler Jones and Adam Keller, sophomores Codi Heuer, Matt Whalen, Connor Lungwitz and Robby Evans and freshmen Keylan Killgore, Tommy Barnhouse and Preston Snavely.
K's for Days
The Shockers pitching staff collected 15 strikeouts in the 4-0 win over Grand Canyon on Feb. 25. It was the first time the Shockers had 15 or more strikeouts in a game since March 12, 2013 against North Dakota.
Back-to-Back Shutouts
On Feb. 25, the Shockers had back-to-back shutouts of Grand Canyon by scores of 1-0 and 4-0. It was the first time the Shockers had back-to-back shutouts since 2013 when they beat Southern Illinois (15-0) and Indiana State (5-0) in the MVC Tournament. The 1-0 win in game one against GCU was the first 1-0 win for the Shockers since beating Bradley 1-0 in 10 innings on May 12, 2012.
Undefeated Start
Wichita State is off to a 7-0 start this season after three-game sweeps of Utah Valley and Grand Canyon and a win over Omaha. It is the best start by a Shocker team since 2011 when they also started 7-0.
Sweeps
The Shockers collected back-to-back three-game sweeps over Utah Valley and Grand Canyon. It is the first time the Shockers have done that since sweeping Niagara and North Dakota in February of 2011.
Bombs for Bohm
Sophomore third baseman Alec Bohm collected his first multi-home run game of his career in the 5-3 win over Grand Canyon on Feb. 26. He went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs and two home runs. It is the first multi-home run game by a Shocker since Ryan Tinkham hit two against Kansas State on April 14, 2015.
Seven-Straight K's
In the season opener against Utah Valley on Feb. 17, the Shocker bullpen struck out seven-straight batters. Landon Holifield struck out the first three, Ben Hecht struck out the next three and Reagan Biechler struck out the seventh. It was the first time the Shocker pitching staff struck out six or more consecutive batters since May 14, 2010 when they struck out six-straight against Missouri State.
Newcomers Make Debut
Nine Shocker newcomers made their debut against Utah Valley. Position players Noah Croft, Sam Goodwin, Jacob Katzfey and Bryant Klusener along with pitchers Adam Keller, Landon Holifield, Ben Hecht, Tommy Barnhouse and Preston Snavely all played for the Shockers in the season opening three-game sweep of Utah Valley. Freshman infielder Alex Jackson made his debut the following weekend against Grand Canyon and redshirt sophomore pitcher Matt Whalen and redshirt freshman pitcher Keylan Killgore made their debut against Omaha.
