WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State opens the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament vs. the No. 4 seed Southern Illinois Salukis Wednesday, May 24 at 4 p.m. CDT in Springfield, Mo.
Quick Hits
• Wednesday'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.
• WSU is making its 40th-straight MVC Tournament appearance.
• The Shockers hold a record of 99-50-1 in the MVC Tournament and have won 17 titles.
• WSU is 22-9 in MVC Tourney play against Southern Illinois.
• The Shockers are 7-5 in MVC Tournament games in Springfield, Mo., with one championship in 2004.
• Five Shockers earned all-Valley honors including Alec Bohm, Zach Lewis, Greyson Jenista, Trey Vickers and Noah Croft.
• Wichita State leads the overall series with Southern Illinois 101-38.
• WSU will play its first neutral site game of the season.
• Senior Zach Lewis turns 22 on May 24.
• WSU is 138th in the May 22 NCAA RPI, while Southern Illinois is 189th. The Shockers are 1-12 against the top-50 and 5-18 against the top-100.
• WSU turned a triple play against Valpo on April 2. It was the first one since 2002.
• 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 5-21 this season away from Eck Stadium.
• In those 26 games away from home, WSU is hitting .238 with a 7.25 ERA and .972 fielding percentage.
• On the road this season, Alec Bohm is hitting .337, Trey Vickers is hitting .267 and Greyson Jenista is hitting .255.
• WSU is 5-5 in the last 10 games.
• In those 10 games, WSU is hitting .276 with a 5.00 ERA and .975 fielding percentage.
• In the last 10 games, Trey Vickers is hitting .349, Greyson Jenista is hitting .318, Jordan Boyer is hitting .316, Luke Ritter is hitting .290 and Travis Young is hitting .259.
• The Shockers are just one of 13 teams (Alabama, George Washington, College of Charleston, UNC Asheville, Cincinnati, St. John's, Boston College, UNCG, Georgia State, CSU Bakersfield, Michigan State, St. Joseph's) 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 two more appearances to move into a tie for fifth in the Shocker record book for career appearances.
• Six Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Jacob Katzfey at 21, Dayton Dugas at 16, Alec Bohm and Josh DeBacker at 12 and Noah Croft and Jordan Boyer 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 is 450-198-1 overall in the month of May.
• Since 1978, the Shockers are 10-3 on May 24, 7-3 on May 25, 11-8 on May 26 and 12-3 on May 27.
• 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.
Five Shockers Named All-Valley
Five Wichita State baseball student-athletes have been named to the 2017 All-Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Team, as voted on by the league coaches. Sophomore third baseman
Alec Bohm and senior starting pitcher
Zach Lewis were named to the first team, while sophomore first baseman
Greyson Jenista was named to the second team. Junior shortstop
Trey Vickers and freshman catcher
Noah Croft were named to the honorable mention team. Jenista also was named to the All-Defensive Team at first base.
MVC Tourney History
Wichita State will be making its 40th-straight appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Shockers have won 17 tournament titles and own a tournament record of 99-50-1. WSU last won the tournament championship in 2009. The Shockers have an overall record of 99-50-1 (.663) in the Valley Tournament and are 17-8 (.680) in the championship game.
Shockers vs. Salukis
Wichita State is the No. 5 seed in the MVC Tournament and will face No. 4 seed Southern Illinois in the first round. The Shockers are 22-9 all-time against the Salukis in the MVC Tournament.
Series History vs. the Salukis
Wichita State leads the overall series with the Salukis 101-38. The Shockers also lead the series in MVC Tournament play 22-9. Head Coach Todd Butler is 11-3 in his career against Southern Illinois.
Last Meeting vs. SIU
The last meeting between the two teams was a three-game series, April 7-9, 2017 in Wichita. The Shockers won game one 7-0 and game three 17-7 in seven innings. The Salukis took game two 11-8.
Alec Bohm went 6-for-13 with two home runs and nine RBI in the series, while
Trey Vickers went 6-for-13 with two RBI.
Zach Lewis and
Cody Tyler each earned a win, while
Chandler Sanburn took the loss.
Jenista Leads Off with HR
Sophomore
Greyson Jenista led off the May 18 game at Indiana State with a home run. It was the first leadoff home run by a Shocker since Tyler Grimes hit one at Kansas State on May 17, 2011.
Ritter's Walk-Off
Sophomore
Luke Ritter hit a walk-off home run on May 16 against Kansas State. It was the first walk-off home run by a Shocker since
Mikel Mucha hit one against Evansville on May 9, 2015.
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.
