WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State closes out its 2017 home schedule Tuesday evening when Kansas State comes to Eck Stadium for a 5 p.m. CT first pitch.
Quick Hits
• Tuesday's game will be broadcast on KNSS 1330 AM and on goshockers.com with Mike Kennedy calling the action. The game will also be televised on The Valley on ESPN3.
• Wichita State leads the overall series with Kansas State 52-38. The Shockers also lead the series in Wichita 31-20.
• WSU is 146th in the May 15 NCAA RPI, while K-State is 98th. The Shockers are 1-12 against the top-50 and 4-18 against the top-100.
• WSU turned a triple play against Valpo on April 2. It was the first one since 2002.
• Trey Vickers is currently on a career-best seven-game hitting streak.
• Zach Lewis is the Valley Pitcher of the Week. He is currently on a scoreless innings streak of 21.1.
• Willie Schwanke had his first at bat of the season on April 5 against Oklahoma State and his first since March 10, 2015.
• WSU is 21-7 this season at home.
• In those 28 home games, WSU is hitting .298 with a 2.91 ERA and .974 fielding percentage.
• At home this season, Greyson Jenista is hitting .378, Willie Schwanke is hitting .365, Jordan Boyer is hitting .361, Trey Vickers is hitting .343, Noah Croft is hitting .313, Alec Bohm is hitting .298, Alex Jackson is hitting .274 and Travis Young is hitting .263.
• WSU is 6-4 in the last 10 games.
• In those 10 games, WSU is hitting .316 with a 5.13 ERA and .967 fielding percentage.
• In the last 10 games, Trey Vickers is hitting .463, Alec Bohm is hitting .383, Greyson Jenista is hitting .362, Jordan Boyer is hitting .357, Willie Schwanke is hitting .348 and Travis Young is hitting .292.
• The Shockers are just one of 12 teams (Alabama, George Washington, College of Charleston, UNC Asheville, Cincinnati, St. John's, Boston College, UNCG, Georgia State, CSU Bakersfield, Michigan State) to turn a triple play this season.
• WSU collected a season-high 20 strikeouts on May 13 against Evansville. It is tied for the second-most in school history.
• 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 fifth in the Shocker record book for career appearances.
• Four Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Gunnar Troutwine at 30, Jacob Katzfey at 20, Dayton Dugas at 14 and Josh DeBacker at 11.
• 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 is 448-196-1 overall in the month of May.
• Since 1978, the Shockers are 15-4 on May 16.
• 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 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 Kansas State
The Wildcats are 27-24 overall and 6-15 in the Big 12. Wins this season have come against Pitt, Delaware, Ohio State, South Carolina, Liberty twice, Eastern Illinois three times, Northwestern State twice, UC Riverside, Iowa twice, Omaha, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, New Mexico twice, West Virginia twice, Abilene Christian three times, Wichita State, Oklahoma and Kansas. Losses have come against Ohio State, St. John's, UC Riverside twice, Omaha, Iowa, Texas three times, Nebraska twice, TCU three times, Oklahoma State twice, Texas Tech twice, West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma twice and Kansas twice. As a team, KSU is hitting .274 with a 4.72 ERA and .972 fielding percentage. They are led offensively by Jake Scudder who is hitting .301 with 10 doubles, 13 home runs and 57 RBI. The Wildcats are led by head coach Brad Hill.
Series History vs. the Wildcats
Wichita State leads the overall series with Kansas State, 52-38. The Shockers also lead the series in Wichita 31-20.
Last Meeting vs. KSU
The last meeting between the two teams was May 2, 2017 in Manhattan. The Wildcats won the game 5-4.
Alec Bohm went 3-for-4 with a double for the Shockers, while
Willie Schwanke went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Reliever
Tyler Jones took the loss.
Lewis Named MVC Pitcher of the Week
Wichita State baseball student-athlete
Zach Lewis has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 8-14. Lewis, a senior right-hander from Palos Heights, Ill., led the Shockers to a win on Friday against Evansville. He pitched a nine-inning complete game shutout and allowed just three singles in the game. He walked one and struck out eight. It was the first complete game of his career and the nine innings was a career-best. Six of his nine innings were perfect innings and he only allowed multiple baserunners in one inning. He pushed his scoreless innings streak to 21.1 innings and is the first Shocker to have a scoreless streak over 20 innings since 2012. It is the first Pitcher of the Week honor of his career.
Lewis' Impressive Streak
Senior pitcher
Zach Lewis has put up impressive numbers in his last nine starts. In those nine starts, he is 4-2 with a 1.49 ERA. He has pitched 60.1 innings and allowed just 38 hits with 19 walks and 45 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting just .181 off him during that stretch. He has also pitched six or more innings in eight of those nine starts and has seven quality starts.
10 or More
Wichita State scored 10 or more runs in all three games against Illinois State this weekend. The Shockers scored 11 in the first game, 10 in the second game and 12 in the third game. It was the first time WSU scored 10 or more in three-straight games since Feb. 25-26, 2012 against North Dakota.
Marathon
Wichita State played a 17-inning game with Evansville on May 13, which tied for the longest game in school history. The Shockers also played a 17-inning game in 2011 at Oregon. The game lasted six hours and 13 minutes, which beat the previous record of six hours and four minutes set against Oregon.
Young with Career Day
Sophomore outfielder
Travis Young had a career day on May 9 against Oral Roberts. He went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two home runs. The three hits and four RBI both tied his career-high and it was his first multi-home run game of his career.
Shutout of the Jayhawks
Wichita State beat in-state rival Kansas 8-0 on Wednesday night in Wichita. It was the first shutout of the Jayhawks by WSU since April 5, 2006 in Wichita. In that game, the Shockers won 4-0.
Home Run for Schwanke
Senior designated hitter
Willie Schwanke hit his first home run of the season on Saturday at Missouri State. It was his first home run as a Shocker and the second of his career. He had 118 at bats between his two home runs and a little more than four years and two months. He hit his other home run on Feb. 19, 2013 against New Orleans when he was a freshman at Arkansas.
Back-to-Back
Wichita State hit back-to-back home runs in the April 15 game at Bradley. It was the first time the Shockers went back-to-back since April 17, 2015 at Bradley when
Ryan Tinkham and Sam Hilliard did it. This time around, it was
Dayton Dugas and
Noah Croft.
Croft's Big Day
Redshirt freshman catcher
Noah Croft hit the first home run of his career in the second inning at Bradley on Saturday. He finished the game with another home run in the seventh inning, a three-run shot that tied the game. He ended up going 3-for-4 in the game with a career-high five RBI and a double.
Triple Play
In the ninth inning of the April 2 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 the March 31 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 April 2 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.
Lewis Sets Career-High
Senior pitcher
Zach Lewis put together a career performance on March 25 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 season-high 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 Arkansas-Pine 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.
