WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State opens its inaugural American Athletic Conference season with a three-game series at ECU beginning Thursday, March 29 at 5:30 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. Thursday's game will be televised on the American Digital Network.
• Wichita State leads the overall series with ECU 1-0.
• The Shockers are on a six-game winning streak.
• The Shockers are ranked No. 22 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 23 in the Perfect Game poll, No. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches poll and No. 22 in the NCBWA poll.
• Luke Ritter is a member of the American Honor Roll this week.
• Luke Ritter is currently on a six-game hitting streak, while Greyson Jenista is on a five-game streak and Jordan Boyer on a four-game streak.
• WSU's 18-4 start is the best start through 22 games since the 2008 team started 19-3.
• The Shocker pitching staff already has nine quality starts this season.
• The pitching staff is third in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings at 6.30.
• WSU's 8-0 start was the best since the 2005 team started 11-0.
• Alec Bohm already has three grand slams this season and is the national leader.
• The Shockers lead the nation in grand slams with five.
• Liam Eddy is just the second freshman pitcher in school history to win his first four starts. The other was David Haas in 1985.
• Senior Trey Vickers is one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award.
• The Shockers are 8-for-19 with the bases loaded this season with five grand slams. Alec Bohm is 3-for-4 with three grand slams with the bases loaded.
• The Shockers are 5-3 on the road this season.
• In eight road games, WSU is hitting .248 with a 5.35 ERA and .968 fielding percentage.
• Greyson Jenista is hitting .333 with seven RBI and 11 walks on the road this season.
• WSU is 8-2 in the last 10 games.
• In the last 10 games, WSU is hitting .282 with a 2.83 ERA and a .972 fielding percentage.
• Luke Ritter is hitting .353 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI in the last 10 games.
• Head Coach Todd Butler collected his 200th career victory on Feb. 24 against Omaha.
• 11 of 12 Shockers, who have a home run in their career, have homered in their last 52 at bats.
• Seven Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Jacob Katzfey at 32, Dayton Dugas at 37, Josh DeBacker at 24, Mason O'Brien at 19, Gunnar Troutwine at 18, Travis Young at 16 and Alex Jackson at 10.
• Junior Alec Bohm has made 102 straight-starts. Senior Trey Vickers had his streak of 89 straight starts broken opening weekend and junior Greyson Jenista had his 117-game streak broken on March 25.
• Alec Bohm and Greyson Jenista lead the Shockers with eight multiple-hit games and Mason O'Brien leads with seven multiple-RBI games.
• Jordan Boyer leads the Shockers with seven two-out RBI, while Mason O'Brien leads with five go ahead RBI.
• Shocker pinch hitters are 10-for-27 (.370) this season.
• Freshman Hunter Gibson homered in his first collegiate plate appearance on Feb. 25 against Omaha. He is just the second Shocker to do that joining teammate Alec Bohm who did it in 2016.
• Greyson Jenista and Alec Bohm have both been named preseason All-Americans and to the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award.
• The Shockers are 22-7 on March 29, 26-6 on March 30 and 21-7 on March 31.
• WSU is 592-240-2 all-time in the month of March.
• WSU is now 30-11 in season openers since 1978.
• WSU is now 38-3 in home openers since 1978.
• Greyson Jenista and Alec Bohm have both been named preseason All-Americans and to the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award.
• The Shockers were picked sixth in The American Preseason Poll.
• Junior third baseman Alec Bohm and junior outfielder Greyson Jenista were named to the preseason all-conference team.
• The Shockers welcome nine newcomers in 2018.
• WSU returns nine starters and 24 letterwinners from the 2017 team.
• The Shocker pitching staff returns five pitchers who started games in 2017 including Codi Heuer, Cody Tyler, Keylan Killgore, Tommy Barnhouse and Robby Evans.
Scouting ECU
The Pirates are 18-5 overall and 2-1 in The American with wins over Western Carolina three times, Campbell, No. 6 North Carolina twice, ODU, Saint Joseph's, Charleston, Charlotte three times, Elon, Maryland three times and No. 20 UCF twice. Losses have come against No. 6 North Carolina, Pepperdine, No.l 28 Missouri State, VCU and No. 20 UCF. Leading the way offensively is Brady Lloyd who is hitting .438 with three doubles, nine RBI and eight stolen bases. The team is hitting .283 with a 2.58 ERA and .984 fielding percentage. The Pirates are led by head coach Cliff Godwin.
Series History vs. the Pirates
Wichita State leads the overall series with ECU 1-0. The only meeting was in the NCAA Tournament in Wichita in 1991. The Shockers won the game 10-5.
Shockers Ranked 18th
The Wichita State baseball team is ranked No. 18 in the March 26 Collegiate Baseball Poll, No. 22 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 23 in the Perfect Game poll, No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches poll and No. 22 in the NCBWA poll. The Shockers were ranked No. 22 in the March 5 poll. It was the first time the Shockers had been ranked in the top-25 since March 27, 2011 when they were No. 24.
Ritter Named to Honor Roll
Junior Luke Ritter led the Shockers to a 4-0 week with a win over Oklahoma and a three-game sweep of Furman. He went 8-for-17 (.471) with five runs, two doubles, one home run, three RBI and a sacrifice fly. He hit leadoff in all four games and started in right field in three games and second base in one. Against Oklahoma, he went 2-for-4 and in game one against Furman he went 3-for-5 with two runs and two doubles. In game two against the Paladins, he went 1-for-4 with a run, a sac fly and two RBI and in the finale he went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a home run. With a hit in all four games, he pushed his hitting streak to five games.
National Leaders
Wichita State already has five grand slams this season, which leads the NCAA. New Mexico State, Santa Clara and Kansas State are in second with three grand slams. Individually, Alec Bohm is the national leader with three grand slams, while three others are tied for second with two each.
11 Different Shockers
Eleven different Shockers have hit a home run this season. That is tied for the second-most in the nation. Elon and Mercer lead the nation with 12.
Conference Opener
The Shockers open American Athletic Conference play this weekend at ECU. Since 1979, Wichita State is 98-31 during the first series of conference play. In 39 seasons, WSU has lost just seven conference opening series and has also split three.
Boyer for Two
Junior infielder Jordan Boyer had two extra base hits in the seventh inning of Wichita State's Friday night game with Furman. He led off with a home run and then had a two-run double later in the inning. He is the first Shocker to have two extra base hits in an inning since Keenan Eaton had two doubles in an inning against Northern Colorado in 2016.
Heuer Hits 100
Junior pitcher Codi Heuer collected a career-high 11 strikeouts in the 11-1 win over Furman on Friday. His 11th strikeout was also his 100th career strikeout.
Career Day for Barnhouse
Sophomore pitcher Tommy Barnhouse collected a career-high eight strikeouts in just four innings in his first start of the season on Sunday against Furman.
Quality Starts
The Wichita State pitching staff already has nine quality starts this season through 22 games after only having 12 last season in 58 games. Codi Heuer and Liam Eddy both have four quality starts and Connor Lungwitz has one. Last season, Zach Lewis led the Shockers with eight quality starts.
Ritter Gets Hot
After getting off to a slow start, Luke Ritter has responded over his last 12 games. He was hitting just .080 on March 2, but is 16-for-47 (.340) in his last 12 games with 16 runs, four doubles, two home runs, five walks and three sacrifice flies. He has raised his batting average to .250.
Stout Staff
The Shocker pitching staff is striking out 10.14 batters per nine innings and allowing just 6.30 hits per nine innings. The school records for a single season are 9.05 strikeouts per nine innings set in 2009 and 7.2 hits per nine innings in 1982.
Hot Start
Wichita State is off to an 18-4 start this season, which is the best start through 22 games since 2008. The 2008 team started the season 19-3 through the first 22 games.
Freshmen Producing
Despite having a veteran team, the Shockers have gotten a lot of production from their freshman class. Four freshman hitters have seen playing time with Paxton Wallace going 7-for-19 (.368), Hunter Gibson going 4-for-12 (.333), Garrett Kocis going 3-for-6 (.500) and Ross Cadena going 2-for-7 (.286). Three freshman pitchers have also produced including Liam Eddy who is 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA, Tyler Davis who has a 2.79 ERA in nine appearances and Alex Segal who has a 4.32 ERA in five appearances.
Improving on the Road
The Shockers are 5-3 on the road so far this season. The five wins equals the total number of road wins last season. In 2017, the Shockers were 5-22 on the road and in 2016 they were just 4-19 away from Eck Stadium.
Another Grand Slam
Greyson Jenista hit his first career grand slam in the 12-3 win over UT Arlington. It was the Shockers fifth grand slam of the season. The school record is six set in 1998.
Vickers' Debut
Senior shortstop Trey Vickers made his first start of the season in game one against UT Arlington after missing the first part of the season with a hamstring injury. In his debut, he went 3-for-5 with two runs and a home run. He pinch hit in game three against the Mavericks and singled to right, which led to the tying run scoring in the eighth inning.
Power Surge
The Shockers hit their 19th home run of the season on March 10 against UT Arlington. That is just 13 games into the season. Last season, it took the Shockers 35 games to hit 19 home runs.
Troutwine's Walk-Off
Senior catcher Gunnar Troutwine's walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning gave Wichita State a 5-4 win in 10 innings against UT Arlington on March 11. It was the first walk-off win for the Shockers since May 16, 2017 when Luke Ritter hit a walk-off home run against Kansas State. It was the first extra innings walk-off hit since Greyson Jenista's single against Oral Roberts in the 10th inning on May 9, 2017.
School Record
Junior Alec Bohm already has three grand slams this season, which is a school record for grand slams in a season. He needs just one more to tie for the career record of four at Wichita State held by Phil Stephenson and Randy Walter.
Back-to-Back
The Bash Brothers went back-to-back for the first time this season in game three against Omaha. Greyson Jenista hit a two-run home run to left field and on the very next pitch Alec Bohm homered to right-center. The Bash Brothers went back-to-back for the second time this season in game two against Nebraska. Greyson Jenista hit a three-run home run to right field and Alec Bohm followed with a homer to left field.
Grand Slams for Everyone
On March 2 in game one of the series against Nebraska, Mason O'Brien and Alec Bohm both hit grand slams for the Shockers. It was the first time the Shockers had two grand slams in a game since April 25, 2008 when Dusty Coleman and Conor Gillaspie did it at Indiana State.
Bohm's Slams
Alec Bohm already has three grand slams this season (Feb. 16 at McNeese, March 2 vs. Nebraska, March 4 vs. Nebraska). The last Shocker to have multiple grand slams in a season was Casey Gillaspie in 2013 with two.
Four-Straight
Alec Bohm hit a home run in four-straight games this season (Feb. 25-March 4). He is the first Shocker to do that since Sam Hilliard hit one in four-straight from May 14-20, 2015.
Bases Loaded
With the bases loaded this season, the Shockers are 4-for-6 with four grand slams. Alec Bohm is 3-for-3 with the bases loaded with three grand slams.
Newcomers Debut
Five Shockers made their collegiate debut in the three-game series at McNeese State. Redshirt freshmen Alex Segal and Preston Minor both pitched, while true freshmen Ross Cadena, Tyler Davis and Liam Eddy also played. Three more made appearances in the series with Omaha including Hunter Gibson, Paxton Wallace and Garrett Kocis and Trent Allen made his debut against Nebraska.
Jenista and Bohm Named to Watch List
Two Wichita State baseball student-athletes have been named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list. Junior third baseman Alec Bohm and junior outfielder Greyson Jenista are both on the 55-player list. The award goes to the top amateur baseball player in the country and will be presented on June 28 in Los Angeles. Darren Dreifort is the only Shocker to win the award. He won it in 1993 after being a finalist in 1992.
Jenista & Bohm Named Preseason All-Americans
Greyson Jenista and Alec Bohm enter the 2018 season with many preseason accolades. Jenista has been named a preseason All-American by five publications, while Bohm has been honored by four. Jenista was named to the first team by Baseball America and College Sports Madness, second team by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game and to the third team by D1Baseball. Bohm was named to the first team by Perfect Game, College Sports Madness and Baseball America and the third team by Collegiate Baseball. Bohm, a junior from Omaha, Neb., hit .305 last season with 71 hits, 44 runs, 13 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs, 40 RBI and five stolen bases to earn first team all-conference honors. During the summer, he helped the Falmouth Commodores to the Western Division Cape Cod League Playoffs and earned All-Star honors, while finishing second in the Cape in batting average (.351), third in RBI (28), third in doubles (10) and 10th in home runs (5). Jenista, a junior from Eudora, Kan., hit .320 last season with 73 hits, 45 runs, 14 doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 41 RBI and six stolen bases to earn second team all-conference honors. During the summer, he helped the Cotuit Kettleers to the Western Division Cape Cod League Playoffs and earned Cape Cod League MVP honors after hitting .310 with 24 runs, 44 hits, four doubles, three home runs, 16 RBI and nine stolen bases.
Family Tradition
Junior first baseman Mason O'Brien is carrying on a Shocker baseball family tradition. His uncles Charlie O'Brien (1980-82) and Erik Sonberg (1981-83) and cousins Chris O'Brien (2009-11) and Tim Kelley (2008-11) all played for the Shockers.
