Tuesday, April 27 | 6 pm CT
Wichita State vs. No. 11 Oklahoma State
T-Shirt Giveaway – The first 150 fans through the gates will receive a FREE Shocker Softball t-shirt.

WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State and No. 11 Oklahoma State meet for the third time this season in a rubber match at Wilkins Stadium.

QUICK HITS
• Wichita State is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games.
• Wichita State dropped its first conference series of the season last weekend vs. USF.
• Shortstop Sydney McKinney ranks 2nd in the NCAA in hits with 68. She is currently riding a 10-game hit streak.
• Wichita State matched the school record with its 13-game win streak. The 2005 Shockers also won 13.
• Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner recorded her 600th career win on April 13 vs. Kansas City.
• The Shockers have hit five grand slams this season.
• Freshman Addison Barnard broke the single season home run record on April 13 vs. Kansas City with her 17th home run of the season. Cacy Williams set the mark with 16 in 2014. Barnard now has 19 home runs.
• Barnard also has 51 RBI this season, the most in a single season in program history. She passed Cacy Williams (50) on April 25.
• Wichita State had back-to-back conference series sweeps (Memphis and Houston) for the first time since joining the American Athletic Conference.
• Home Run Queen: Madison Perrigan became Wichita State's all-time home run leader vs. Missouri State on March 5 with her 40th career home run.
• Perrigan became the program's all-time RBI leader on March 11 vs. Missouri State with 154 career runs batted in.
• Wichita State has hit 79 home runs through 43 games, which ranks 3rd nationally.
• Seven players on the roster have hit five or more home runs so far this season.
• Wichita State ranks in the top 30 nationally in home runs per game (5th), walks (7th), slugging percentage (10th), scoring (15th), on base percentage (19th), doubles (30th) and batting average (29th).
• Sophomore Lauren Mills set the single game home run record vs. Lamar on Feb. 20 when she hit three home runs - two in the same inning.
• Wichita State returns nine starters from a season ago and 16 letterwinners in all.
• Wichita State was picked to finish fifth by the league's coaches in the 2021 preseason poll.
• Wichita State returns four All-Conference performers from 2019: Madison Perrigan (First Team), Ryleigh Buck (First Team), Sydney McKinney (First Team, All-Rookie Team) and Erin McDonald (Second Team).

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State is coming off its first conference series loss of the season. The Shockers dropped three of four games vs. USF last weekend behind dominant pitching from Georgina Corrick. USF won game one, 2-1; game three, 3-0; and game four, 8-1. Wichita State's lone win came in game two, a 14-3 run-rule in five innings. The Shockers struck out 29 times vs. Corrick and scored just two runs. In the Shockers' win, Wichita State belted five home runs, including two from Madison Perrigan. Addison Barnard broke the single season RBI record in the series.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State enters the midweek matchup at 36-5 overall and 11-1 in the Big 12 this season. The Cowgirls sit inside the Top 15 in all four major polls, and as high as No. 8. Chelsea Alexander hits a team-best .427, while Hayley Busby (14 HR, 37 RBI) and Alysen Febrey (12 HR, 43 RBI) provide the power. In the circle, OSU leans on Player of the Year finalist Carrie Eberle. Eberle is 16-1 with a 0.81 ERA, 108 strikeouts in 112.1 innings. The Cowgirl pitching staff has a team ERA of 1.36, good for 6th in the NCAA. Their 16 shutouts rank second nationally.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Oklahoma State have a series history that dates all the way back to 1978. The two programs have met more than 100 times over the years. Oklahoma State has dominated the all-time series with the Cowgirls owning an 83-13 record against the Shockers. Under Coach Bredbenner, Wichita State has held its own, going 6-11 in 17 meetings.

LAST MEETING WITH THE COWGIRLS
The two teams met earlier this season at the Mizuno Classic in Stillwater. Wichita State and Oklahoma State faced each other twice over the weekend with both teams winning a game. The Shockers won the first game, 9-2, before the Cowgirls bounced back to win 5-2 on the final day of play.

POLL FOR THOUGHTS
Wichita State climbed into the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll for the first time in program history on April 13. The Shockers received 61 votes to enter the rankings at No. 25. This week the Shockers climb two spots up to No. 23. Wichita State sits at No. 20 for the second consecutive week in the D1 Softball Top 25. The Shockers completed the four-poll sweep by breaking into the Top 25 in both the Softball America (#20) an ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 (#23) on April 20.

A START FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
Wichita State is 33-9-1 so far this season. That mark is the best record through the first 43 games in program history. The 2021 Shockers were the fastest to reach 30 wins in school history, needing only 35 games.

A TIE?
Wichita State and UCF played one of the more thrilling contests of the season on Sunday, April 18. Especially when you consider the game ended in a 0-0 tie. As far as scoreless games go, it was not short on drama. The two teams battled for 11 innings before the game was called on account of the drop-dead rule and Wichita State's travel arrangements. It marked just the second tie in program history. Wichita State and Kansas played to a 2-2 tie back on April 30, 1991.

MORE ON THE MATCHUP VS. UCF
According to the American Athletic Conference, last weekend's series between No. 25 Wichita State and No. 23 UCF was the first AAC series to feature two league teams ranked in the Top 25.

BARNARD'S BOMBS
Freshman Addison Barnard broke the single season home run record on April 13 vs. Kansas City with her 17th of the season. She broke a tie with Cacy Williams who set the record in 2014. Barnard needed only 34 games to break the program record, as a true freshman. Additionally, her, now, 19 home runs are the most by a player in American Athletic Conference history. She is also seven home runs away from cracking the Top 10 on the career charts at Wichita State, in just one season.

AMERICAN HISTORY
Wichita State has already set a program record for conference wins as a member of the American. They are 15-4-1 to this point. The Shockers' 15 wins are the most since joining the league in 2018. They needed only 14 games to reach win No. 13. The Shockers went 12-9 (.571) to tie for third in The American standings in their debut season in 2018 and added a matching 12-9 record to take solo fourth place in 2019.

SHOCKERS BOAST STRONG RPI
In the latest release of the 2021 RPI, Wichita State sits at No. 30 after a 33-9-1 start to the regular season. Wichita State opponents that sit in the top 50 include: Oklahoma at No. 8, Oklahoma State at No. 13, Texas at No. 15, UCF at No. 36, Iowa State at No. 42, Kansas at No. 43 and USF at No. 46. South Dakota State is just outside at No. 52.

PITCHERS BEWARE
Through the first 43 games of the season Wichita State has hit 79 home runs, a mark good enough to rank fourth nationally. The school record for home runs in a single season was 59 set in 2018. The Shockers eclipsed that mark on April 10 vs. Houston, needing only 31 games.

SCORCHING SYDNEY
Sophomore Sydney McKinney has been a terror for opposing pitchers since league play started. In 20 games, McKinney is 39-for-72 (.542) at the plate with four home runs, 15 RBI, eight stolen bases and 27 runs scored. The leadoff hitter had a career-best 11-game multi-hit streak before it was snapped in the finale vs. Houston on April 11.

RANKED WINS
Wichita State has picked off three ranked teams so far this season. Wichita State took 3-of-4 at No. 23 UCF over the weekend - the first time defeating a ranked team in three straight games. The Shockers' upset of No. 8/6 Oklahoma State on Thursday, March 18 was the program's highest ranked win in program history. The win in Stillwater was just the fifth-ever win at OSU and marked the largest margin of victory over the Cowgirls. Wichita State's win over No. 23 Iowa State on March 7 in Arlington was its first victory over a ranked foe since May 2019. The Shockers are 5-2-1 this season against teams ranked in the top 25. The two losses were to No. 7 Texas and No. 8/6 Oklahoma State.

BOMB SQUAD
Wichita State belted 13 home runs last weekend in the series vs. Creighton. The Shockers hit five in game one, six in game two and two in the finale. The six home runs in game two were tied for the second-most in school history for homers in a single game. Addison Barnard (3), Madison Perrigan (2), Neleigh Herring (2), Lauren Mills (2), Ryleigh Buck (1), Jessica Garcia (1), Bailee Nickerson (1) and Sydney McKinney (1) all hit long balls in the three-game sweep.

BACK-TO-BACK 2X IN THE SAME INNING
In Wichita State's 13-3 run-rule of Creighton in game two of the series, Addison Barnard and Madison Perrigan hit back-to-back home runs twice in the same inning. Barnard started the third inning with a two-run shot followed by Perrigan's solo homer. After the lineup batted around, Barnard drove in three on a blast to left, immediately followed by Perrigan's second solo shot of the inning.

YOLO LOLO
No Shocker had ever hit three home runs in a single game... until Feb. 20, 2021. Sophomore Lauren Mills stamped her name into the record book in a big way vs. Lamar. The Topeka, Kan., native set a new school record with three bombs in the game, including two in the same inning, while also driving in a career-high six RBI.

STAYING IN THE LOOP
Follow the Shocker softball program on Twitter (@GoShockersSB) for content and in-game updates. You can also become a fan of Wichita State Softball on Facebook (GoShockersSB) and Instagram (goshockerssb).

UP NEXT
Wichita State wraps up conference play with a trip to Tulsa to face the Hurricane, April 30 - May 2.