The RoundHouse | 5/3/2019 10:10:00 PM

 
Lauren Mills set up the game's biggest hit with a series of foul balls in the second inning, an at-bat that ended with a groundout. 
 
That harmless at-bat, part of a 1-2-3 inning, wasn't really harmless. Those 10 pitches signaled Mills' ability to figure out USF pitcher Georgina Corrick and that paid off in the eighth inning.
 
"She's got a great eye," Wichita State coach Kristi Bredbenner said. "She ended up grounding out, but I felt like she was seeing the ball pretty well."
 
Mills, a freshman DH from Topeka, proved that in the eighth to give Wichita State a 4-3 win over first-place USF on Friday at Wilkins Stadium. Mills she lined a pitch from Corrick – the American Athletic Conference's leader in earned run average (0.96), strikeouts (224) and opposing batting average (.166) – over the right-field fence and happily rounded the bases before steaming into a mosh pit at home to celebrate the win.
 
"The home run is a by-product of what all of us do here at Wichita State," she said. "God just put the ball there and let me have a chance to do it."
 
Wichita State (30-23, 11-8 American) passed the 30-win mark for the sixth consecutive season. The Bulls (38-16, 16-3) need one win to claim the regular-season title. They had won nine straight games and 15 straight conference games entering Friday.
 
Mills hit her second home run of the season. Her ability to get on base is already well-established, although it's come mostly in a reserve role until recently. She leads Wichita State with a .527 on-base percentage, ranking second in the conference, in 52 at-bats. 
 
She shows excellent command of the strike zone with 21 walks and 11 strikeouts. Her second-inning at-bat showed that. In the eighth, she showed the power that figures to increase as she grows stronger and more experienced. Mills, the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year last spring at Topeka Seaman, hit 15 home runs as a high school senior.
 
Until that power arrives more consistently, Mills is progressing with patience and an ability to spoil pitches.
 
"I was always told, at a young age, be as disciplined at the plate and try as much as you can to see pitches," she said. "In college, it's a little different because they try to get ahead of you and you have to adjust."
 
Corrick, co-Pitcher of the Year in the American in 2018, pitched Mills outside in her first two at-bats. She singled on her second look. Corrick jammed Mills on the third at-bat. She was ready in the eighth to give the Shockers a dramatic start to the weekend series. 
 
"I knew they were going to go inside," Mills said. 
 
Wichita State's Madison Perrigan also homered off Corrick and the Shockers out-hit the Bulls 10-5. She smacked a two-run homer to left in the first inning to tie it 2-all.
 
"Honestly, we were just due," she said. "We knew Georgina was the No. 1 pitcher in the conference, so we really had nothing to lose. We were just going up there hacking and looking for good pitches to hit."
 
The Shockers also put their strong defense on display to back pitchers Caitlin Bingham and Erin McDonald.
 
Third baseman Ryleigh Buck and shortstop Laurie Derrico threw out runners from their knees. Derrico ranged behind the mound to grab a ball that bounced off McDonald's glove and threw on the run to first base for the second out of the eighth with a runner on.
 
In the sixth, left fielder Bailee Nickerson threw out Mia Fung at the plate to preserve a 3-all tie. Nickerson didn't have a good feeling when the throw left her hand. 
 
"My heart dropped, because it was not the best throw ever," she said. "I got too big of a grip on it. It went straight down. It didn't even make it to third base. But, it worked out for us."
 
It bounced toward Perrigan at catcher, who grabbed it and reached to tag Fung, who attempted to slide around the tag.
 
"It was bouncing and I was following it every bounce and making sure," Perrigan said. "I had to make sure to follow it in the pocket of my glove. Perfect throw for the situation, because you want a throw that's hard on the line and that's going to give a good hop to the catcher."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.