WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State returns to Eck Stadium for the first of four consecutive home contests with a visit from Oklahoma State Wednesday, April 4Â at 6 p.m.
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Quick Hits
• The game will be broadcast on KNSS 1330 AM and on goshockers.com with Mike Kennedy calling the action and will be televised on Cox YurView Kansas with Shane Dennis and Denning Gerig.Â
• Oklahoma State leads the overall series with Wichita State 58-35. OSU also leads the series in Wichita 27-14.
• The Shockers are ranked No. 25 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 28 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches poll and No. 22 in the NCBWA poll.
• WSU is sixth in the April 2 NCAA RPI, while Oklahoma State is 48th. The Shockers are 3-4 against the top-50 and 8-5 against the top-100.
• Gunnar Troutwine is The American Player of the Week this week.
• Shocker junior first baseman Mason O'Brien was a member of the Oklahoma State baseball team from 2015-16.
• WSU's 19-6 start is the best start through 25 games since the 2008 team started 22-3.
• The Shocker pitching staff already has nine quality starts this season.
• The pitching staff is fifth in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings at 6.65.
• 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-23 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 13-1 at home this season.
• In 14 home games, WSU is hitting .304 with a 2.11 ERA and .988 fielding percentage.
• Mason O'Brien is hitting .350 with 15 RBI at home this season.
• WSU is 7-3 in the last 10 games.
• In the last 10 games, WSU is hitting .302 with a 2.79 ERA and a .968 fielding percentage.
• Paxton Wallace and Gunnar Troutwine are both hitting .393 in the last 10 games, while Alec Bohm is hitting .351.
• 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 57 at bats.
• Eight Shockers have double-digit errorless streaks including Jacob Katzfey at 34, Dayton Dugas at 40, Josh DeBacker at 26, Gunnar Troutwine at 21, Travis Young at 16, Greyson Jenista at 12 and Luke Ritter at 11 and Alex Jackson at 10.
• Junior Alec Bohm has made 105 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 leads the Shockers with nine 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 12-for-30 (.400) 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 21-8 on April 4.
• WSU is 661-280 all-time in the month of April.
• 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.
Scouting Oklahoma State
The Cowboys are 15-10-1 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 with wins over Texas State twice, Marist twice, Little Rock, Arizona State, Missouri State twice, Eastern Michigan, Central Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and TCU three times. Losses have come against Texas State, Little Rock, Arizona State twice, Eastern Michigan twice, Dallas Baptist, Seton Hall and Texas twice, while the tie was with Seton Hall. Leading the way offensively is Colin Simpson who is hitting .311 with eight home runs and 28 RBI. The team is hitting .252 with a 5.09 ERA and .967 fielding percentage. The Cowboys are led by head coach Josh Holliday.
Series History vs. the Cowboys
Oklahoma State leads the overall series with Wichita State 58-35. The Cowboys also lead the series in Wichita 27-14.
Last Meeting vs. OSU
The last meeting between the two teams was April 5, 2017, in Wichita. The Cowboys won 6-3. Greyson Jenista went 2-for-4 in the game, while Alex Jackson drove in two. Starter Keylan Killgore took the loss.
Shockers Ranked 22nd
The Wichita State baseball team is ranked No. 28 in the April 2 Collegiate Baseball Poll, No. 25 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 25 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.
Troutwine Named Player of the Week
Wichita State baseball student-athlete Gunnar Troutwine has been named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the week of March 26-April 1. Troutwine, a senior catcher from Fairway, Kan., led the Shockers to two road wins last week including at Central Arkansas and No. 16 East Carolina. He went 7-for-12 (.583) with two runs, two home runs, five RBI and a walk and also had a perfect fielding percentage behind the plate in 27 total chances. In game one at No. 16 ECU, he went 4-for-5 with a run, four RBI and a home run. In game two against the Pirates, he went 1-for-3 with a run, a RBI and a home run and in the finale he went 2-for-4.
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. Tennessee Tech leads the nation with 15 different players.
Eight-Straight
Wichita State hit a home run in eight-straight games from March 18-30. The last time they homered in eight-straight was April 5-18, 2015. During the streak, the Shockers hit 12 total home runs by eight different players including two by Luke Ritter, one by Trey Vickers, one by Jordan Boyer, one by Paxton Wallace, three by Gunnar Troutwine, one by Greyson Jenista, two by Alec Bohm and one from Dayton Dugas.
20 Hits
Wichita State collected 20 hits in the 14-3 win at ECU. The last time the Shockers had 20 or more hits in a game was Feb. 16, 2014 against SIUE when they had 24 hits.
Career-High Night for Bohm
Shocker third baseman Alec Bohm had a career-high six RBI in the Thursday win over ECU. He is the first Shocker to have six RBI in a game since Erik Harbutz had six against Bradley on April 14, 2013.
Double Digit Total Bases
Shocker third baseman Alec Bohm had 11 total bases in the Thursday win over ECU including two home runs, a double and a single. He is the first Shocker to have 10 or more total bases in a game since Casey Gillaspie had 11 at Evansville on April 15, 2012.
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.
Quality Starts
The Wichita State pitching staff already has nine quality starts this season through 25 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.
Stout Staff
The Shocker pitching staff is striking out 9.89 batters per nine innings and allowing just 6.65 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 19-6 start this season, which is the best start through 25 games since 2008. The 2008 team started the season 22-3 through the first 25 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 11-for-31 (.355), Hunter Gibson going 4-for-14 (.286), 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 5-1 with a 2.06 ERA, Tyler Davis who has a 3.97 ERA in 10 appearances and Alex Segal who has a 4.32 ERA in five appearances.
Improving on the Road
The Shockers are 6-5 on the road so far this season. The six wins is more than 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.
