WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State will put its unbeaten record on the line this weekend when the Shockers play their first road series of 2017 in Ruston, La., at Louisiana Tech beginning Friday night at 6 p.m. CDT.
Quick Hits
• All three games this weekend will be broadcast on KNSS 1330 AM and on goshockers.com with Shane Dennis calling the action.
• This will be the first meeting between Wichita State and Louisiana Tech.
• Shocker head coach Todd Butler and sophomore outfielder Dayton Dugas are both Louisiana natives. Butler is from Sulphur, while Dugas is from Lake Charles.
• Cody Tyler is this week's Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week.
• The Shockers have won eight in a row at home, the ninth longest streak in the nation.
• WSU is one of six undefeated teams in the nation as of March 2.
• WSU is first nationally in runs allowed per game at 1.9.
• The Shockers are off to their best start since 2011 when they also started 7-0.
• Dayton Dugas is currently on a six-game hitting streak, while Greyson Jenista is on a five-game streak.
• As a team, the Shockers are hitting .343 with runners in scoring position.
• In the NCAA stats, WSU is 38th in double plays turned per game, 48th in doubles per game, second in ERA, 16th in hits allowed per nine innings, and second in shutouts. Individually, Ben Hecht and Reagan Biechler are 19th in saves, Willie Schwanke and Cody Tyler are sixth in wins and Gunnar Troutwine is first in toughest to strikeout.
• The WSU bullpen has an ERA of 0.85.
• 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 seven 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 51 at bats.
• Four Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Travis Young at 42, Dayton Dugas at 33, Trey Vickers at 14 and Gunnar Troutwine at 10.
• 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 575-223-2 all-time overall in the month of March.
• Since 1978, the Shockers are 16-5 on March 3, 10-7 on March 4 and 14-3 on March 5.
• 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 Louisiana Tech
The Bulldogs are 8-1 after splitting a midweek series with Arkansas. Wins this season have come against Arkansas-Pine Bluff three times, Little Rock, UT Arlington three times and Arkansas. The lone loss was to Arkansas on Wednesday. As a team, LT is hitting .274 and the pitching staff has a 1.92 ERA. Leading the way offensively is Brent Diaz who is hitting .379 with four doubles, one triple, one home run and 10 RBI. The Bulldogs are led by head coach Lane Burroughs.
Series History vs. the Bulldogs
This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Tyler Named MVC Pitcher of the Week
Wichita State baseball student-athlete Cody Tyler has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 20-26.
Tyler, a junior left-handed pitcher from Terrell, Texas, earned the win in game two (4-0) of the Shockers three-game sweep of Grand Canyon. He pitched six shutout innings and allowed just three singles with two walks and a career-high nine strikeouts.
None of the five baserunners he allowed moved past first base in the game. He had at least one strikeout in each of his six innings and had multiple strikeouts in three of the innings. He improved to 2-0 on the season with a 0.82 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched.
It is the second career MVC Pitcher of the Week honor for Tyler.
Dominant Bullpen
Wichita State's bullpen has put up impressive numbers through the first seven games. The bullpen has compiled a 0.85 ERA in 31.2 innings. The pen has given up just three runs on 21 hits with nine walks and 38 strikeouts. The bullpen has not allowed a run in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning this season.
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.
