WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State begins Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend when Southern Illinois comes to Eck Stadium for a three-game series beginning Friday night at 6 p.m.
 

WICHITA STATE BASEBALL

Wichita, Kan.

Eck Stadium

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GAME 29

Wichita State (14-14, 0-0 MVC)   Southern Illinois (15-15, 3-0 MVC)

Friday, April 7

6 P.M. CDT

COX Channel Kansas (2022 HD)

WatchESPN (Subject to Blackout)

KNSS 1330 AM/98.7 FM

Listen

Live Stats

GAME 30

Wichita State (14-14, 0-0 MVC)   Southern Illinois (15-15, 3-0 MVC)

Saturday, April 8

2 P.M. CDT

COX Channel Kansas (2022 HD)

WatchESPN (Subject to Blackout)

KNSS 1330 AM/98.7 FM

Listen

Live Stats

GAME 31

Wichita State (14-14, 0-0 MVC)   Southern Illinois (15-15, 3-0 MVC)

Sunday, April 9

1 P.M. CDT

The Valley on ESPN3

WatchESPN

KNSS 1330 AM/98.7 FM

Listen

Live Stats

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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. Friday and Saturday's games will be televised on COX Channel Kansas (2022 HD) and Sunday's on The Valley on ESPN3.
• Wichita State leads the overall series with Southern Illinois 99-37. The Shockers also lead the series in Wichita 53-18.
• WSU is 130th in the April 6 NCAA RPI, while Southern Illinois is 220th. The Shockers are 1-7 against the top-50 and 4-11 against the top-100.
• WSU turned a triple play against Valpo on April 2. It was the first one since 2002.
• Senior utility player Willie Schwanke will celebrate his 23rd birthday on April 7.
• Schwanke had his first at bat of the season on April 5 against Oklahoma State and his first since March 10, 2015.
• WSU is 12-5 this season at home.
• In those 17 home games, WSU is hitting .265 with a 2.65 ERA and .981 fielding percentage.
• At home this season, Jordan Boyer is hitting .381, Greyson Jenista is hitting .328, Alex Jackson is hitting .295 and Trey Vickers is hitting .286.
• WSU is 4-6 in the last 10 games.
• In those 10 games, WSU is hitting .216 with a 3.24 ERA and .984 fielding percentage.
• In the last 10 games, Alex Jackson and Jacob Katzfey are hitting .333 and Gunnar Troutwine is hitting .267.
• Freshman Alex Jackson is currently on a seven-game hitting streak.
• 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 two 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.
• Seven Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Travis Young at 61, Gunnar Troutwine at 23, Alex Jackson at 18, Noah Croft and Greyson Jenista at 16 and Jacob Katzfey and Trey Vickers 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.
• WSU is 654-272 overall in the month of April.
• Since 1978, the Shockers are 17-11 on April 7, 24-19 on April 8 and 18-13 on April 9.
• 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 Southern Illinois
The Salukis are 15-15 overall and 3-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wins this season have come against Stetson three times, Louisiana-Monroe, Western Illinois three times, Memphis, Arkansas State, Illinois twice, Jacksonville State, and Evansville three times. Losses have come against Austin Peay twice, Louisiana-Monroe twice, Belmont, Murray State twice, Memphis twice, Toledo twice, Jacksonville State twice, Arkansas State, and Eastern Illinois. As a team, SIU is hitting .264 with a 4.22 ERA and .969 fielding percentage. They are led offensively by Connor Kopach who is hitting .325 with 11 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 16 stolen bases. The Salukis are led by head coach Ken Henderson.

Series History vs. the Salukis
Wichita State leads the overall series with the Salukis 99-37. The Shockers also lead the series in Wichita 53-18. The Salukis last won a series in Wichita in 2006. Head Coach Todd Butler is 9-2 in his career against Southern Illinois.

Last Meeting vs. SIU
The last meeting between the two teams was a three-game seriesApril 29-May 1 in Carbondale, Ill. The Shockers won game one 8-0, but SIU won the next two by scores of 8-5 and 4-1. Chase Rader led the Shockers going 5-for-12 in the series. Cody Tyler threw a complete game shutout in the opener, while John Hayes and Clayton McGinness each took a loss.

Jackson's Streak
Freshman outfielder Alex Jackson is currently on a career-best seven-game hitting streak. During the streak, he is 10-for-29 (.345) with three RBI, one walk and two stolen bases.

MVC Opener
The Shockers open Valley play this weekend with Southern Illinois. Since 1979, Wichita State is 96-30 during the first series of Valley play. In 38 seasons, WSU has lost just seven Valley opening series and has also split three. The Shockers went 0-2 against Illinois State in 1984, 1-3 against Bradley in both 1986 and 1987, 1-2 against Evansville in 2005, 1-2 against Southern Illinois in 2006, 1-2 against Missouri State in 2011 and 1-2 against Evansville in 2016. WSU split with Indiana State (2-2) in both 1988 and 1989 and split with Missouri State (1-1) in 1991. The Shockers have met Southern Illinois for their first Valley series six times. The Shocks went 4-0 against the Salukis in Wichita in 1998, 3-1 in Wichita in 2000, 3-1 in Carbondale in 2001, 1-2 in Wichita in 2006, 2-1 in Wichita in 2012 and 3-0 in Carbondale in 2015.

Triple Play
In the ninth inning of Sunday's game against Valparaiso with runners on first and second, the Shockers turned a 5-6-3 triple play to keep the game tied. It was the first triple play turned by the Shockers since April 16, 2002 against Kansas.

Walk-Offs for Young
Sophomore outfielder Travis Young collected the first walk-off hit of the season for the Shockers in Friday's 4-3 win over Valparaiso. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, he singled to left field to drive in Alex Jackson for the game-winning run. He followed that up with another walk-off on Sunday in another 4-3 win. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, he singled to right field to drive in Noah Croft for the game-winning run. They were the first two walk-off hits of his career.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.