WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State welcomes Valparaiso to Eck Stadium this weekend for the final non-conference weekend series of 2017. The Shockers and Crusaders begin the series Friday night at 6 p.m. CT.
Quick Hits
• All three games will be broadcast on KNSS 1330 AM and on goshockers.com with Mike Kennedy and Shane Dennis calling the action. The games will also be televised on ESPN3.
• This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
• WSU is 128th in the March 30 NCAA RPI, while Valparaiso is 93rd. The Shockers are 1-6 against the top-50 and 1-10 against the top-100.
• WSU is 9-4 this season at home.
• In those 13 home games, WSU is hitting .266 with a 2.77 ERA and .979 fielding percentage.
• At home this season, Jordan Boyer is hitting .344, Greyson Jenista and Trey Vickers are hitting .313 and Dayton Dugas is hitting .300.
• WSU is 3-7 in the last 10 games.
• In those 10 games, WSU is hitting .220 with a 3.83 ERA and .983 fielding percentage.
• In the last 10 games, Jacob Katzfey is hitting .389, Luke Ritter is hitting .314 and Dayton Dugas is hitting .273.
• In the NCAA stats, WSU is 35th in double plays, 64th in double plays per game, 65th in triples, 86th in hits allowed per nine innings, 60th in fielding percentage, 89th in strikeouts per nine innings and 13th in shutouts. Individually, Trey Vickers is 76th in triples, Ben Hecht is 52nd in saves and 72nd in appearanes, Reagan Biechler is 30th in appearances, and Landon Holifield is 72nd in appearances.
• 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 five more appearances to move into a tie for 15th in the Shocker record book for career appearances.
• 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.
• Six Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Travis Young at 57, Gunnar Troutwine at 21, Jordan Boyer at 18, Alex Jackson at 14 and Noah Croft and Greyson Jenista at 12.
• 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 579-236-2 all-time overall in the month of March.
• Since 1978, the Shockers are 20-7 on March 31, 23-10 on April 1 and 15-6 on April 2.
• 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 Valparaiso
The Crusaders are 9-13 overall after dropping two of three over the weekend at Illinois-Chicago and defeating Purdue on Wednesday. Wins this season have come against Western Kentucky, UAB, Jacksonville two times, Pennsylvania two times, Chicago State, UIC and Purdue. Losses have come against Western Kentucky two times, UAB two times, Jacksonville, South Florida three times, Wright State three times and UIC two times. As a team, Valpo is hitting .258 with a 3.88 ERA and a .971 fielding percentage. They are led offensively by Nate Palace who is hitting .337 with six doubles, two triples, six home runs and 18 RBI. The Crusaders are led by head coach Brian Schmack.
Series History vs. the Crusaders
This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
Book Drive This Weekend
Wichita State will be hosting a Book Drive Weekend on March 31-April 2 during the baseball series with Valparaiso. WSU will be collecting children's books from fans at all three games of the series. Books can be new or gently used. The books will help three elementary schools that Wichita State has been working with in the Reading with the Shockers program, which was created last summer in conjunction with USD 259. A group of 12-15 different WSU student-athletes attend three different elementary schools each month to do activities and read with elementary school students. These three schools are Isely Elementary, Chisholm Trail Elementary and Adams Elementary. All donations received will be distributed between the Reading with the Shockers schools.
Legends Weekend Scheduled for April 28-29
The Wichita State baseball program will be hosting Legends Weekend April 28-29 vs. Illinois State.
All Shocker Baseball alumni will be celebrated, honored and recognized at the first Legends Weekend.
On Friday, April 28, all alumni that are present will be introduced on the field before the game. On Saturday, April 29, there will be a College World Series pennant giveaway to the first 1,500 fans in attendance. Fans will also be able to take their photo for the first time with the 1989
National Championship trophy. There will also be postgame autographs on Saturday with all Shocker legends and alumni in attendance.
Memorable Shocker Baseball moments will be highlighted on the video board all weekend long.
100 Hits
Two Shocker juniors reached the 100 career hit milestone over the weekend against Texas Tech. On Friday, catcher Gunnar Troutwine collected career-hit number 100, while shortstop Trey Vickers collected his 100th career-hit on Saturday.
Lewis Sets Career-High
Senior pitcher Zach Lewis put together a career performance on Saturday against No. 3 Texas Tech. He tied his career-best with seven innings pitched and struck out a career-high 10 in the game.
Katzfey's Impressive Week
Freshman outfielder Jacob Katzfey put together a strong week for the Shockers. He went 6-for-12 in the five games with three runs, one double, one triple, three RBI, a walk and a sacrifice hit. On Tuesday at Oral Roberts, he had a career-high three hits.
Season-High K's
The Shocker pitching staff collected a seasonhigh 16 strikeouts on March 22 against Sacramento State. It was the most strikeouts by the WSU pitching staff since March 18, 2009 when the Shockers struck out 16 against ArkansasPine Bluff. Boyer's Grand Slam Sophomore infielder Jordan Boyer hit his first career home run on March 15 against Northern Colorado. The home run was a grand slam, which was the Shockers first of the season.
Home Winning Streak
Wichita State has won 10-straight home games, dating back to last season. It is the longest home winning streak since 2015 when WSU won 10-straight from April 24-May 20. The Shockers current streak is tied for the sixthlongest in the nation.
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 last 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 last 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.
Bohm on a Streak
Sophomore third baseman Alec Bohm is currently on a season-best seven-game hitting streak. During the streak, he is 10-for-27 (.370) with seven runs, two doubles, two home runs, four RBI and four walks.
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.
