Baseball | 4/7/2021 5:07:00 PM
By
Paul Suellentrop
In 1979, Wichita State baseball entered its second season after a seven-season hiatus. The Shockers won 43 games, which said good things without fully describing the ambition.
Coach Gene Stephenson wanted to show everybody the scope of his plans. In 1979, the best way to do that was to bring in Southern Cal, the dominant program of the era. On April 9, the Trojans played the Shockers at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium to mark one of the program's milestones.
How important was that game? The Shockers lost 13-1 and yet a picture of Stephenson and Southern Cal coach Rod Dedeaux is part of the mural that hangs at Eck Stadium. By 1979, the Trojans claimed 11 national titles, including five straight from 1970-74 and again in 1978.
On Saturday, Wichita State plays downtown again, this time to open $75-million Riverfront Stadium, and renew a relationship with baseball by the Arkansas River that has helped the Shockers throughout their history. The Shockers (15-9, 3-1 American Athletic Conference) play Houston (13-14, 1-3) at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).
(Tickets available through the Wichita Wind Surge.)
Loren Hibbs, then a senior at Wellington High School, came to that 1979 game with his brother and father. Although the Shockers lost to the reigning College World Series champions, Hibbs saw a future he liked. Rain canceled a second game scheduled for the next day.
"I think everybody knew Gene's background, and everybody knew the success he had as an assistant at Oklahoma," Hibbs said. "But everybody was still kind of holding their breath, like 'Is this really going to happen here? Is baseball really going to be a big deal at Wichita State?"
We all know now that Shocker baseball became a big deal. Playing top opponents such as Southern Cal legitimized Wichita State in its early days and Lawrence-Dumont was often the scene of those games.
Hibbs played outfield at Wichita State and helped the Shockers to the 1982 College World Series. He worked as an assistant coach under Stephenson from 1985-92. He returned to the school in 2019 to serve as assistant athletic director for baseball operations and player development with coach
Eric Wedge.
"The environment and the fact they were able to get Rod Dedeaux and USC to come in here and play was a big deal," Hibbs said. "That put in my brain that Wichita State may be a place I may want to come play."
Starting in 1978, Wichita State used Lawrence-Dumont Stadium (demolished in 2018) to hold premier games before Shocker Field grew into Eck Stadium with a suitable seating capacity.
Later in 1979, Wichita State swept a doubleheader from Arkansas. In 1981, the Shockers played Hawaii and Oklahoma State. The next season, they opened a three-game series against Arizona State at Lawrence-Dumont. They closed the regular season with two games against Cal State-Fullerton at Lawrence-Dumont, a preview of a College World Series game three weeks later.
In 1985, 1988 and 2000, the Shockers played early season games downtown while Eck Stadium was under construction.
In 1988, the Shockers swept a three-game series against LSU at Lawrence-Dumont with Wedge at catcher in a game he remembers for Stephenson's insistence on playing despite the cold in late March. In 1991, a 13-1 win over Creighton in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament drew a crowd of 7,212, then an attendance record for the program and now No. 11 on the list. That game gave the Shockers win No. 6 during their 8-0 season against the Bluejays and previewed the College World Series games in early June.
In all, the Shockers went 49-21 at Lawrence-Dumont and last played there in 2000.
The Shockers plan to return to Riverfront Stadium each season, likely with midweek games vs. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Wichita State expects to play those schools three times each season. In the years one plays twice in Wichita, one game will go downtown and one to Eck Stadium, Hibbs said.
"It's putting our players in an environment where we can draw a lot of people," Hibbs said. "It helps recruiting. It helps our players, giving them something different and puts them in a situation they haven't been in before that can help us once we get back to playing in the NCAA Tournament again."
Hibbs said Saturday's game grew out of conversations with Wichita Wind Surge owner Lou Schwechheimer before his death in July 2020. Schwechheimer, long-time friends with Wedge, wanted to partner with the Shockers to promote baseball. Wichita State wanted to return to playing a marquee game downtown, just as the men's basketball does at Intrust Bank Arena.
"(Schwechheimer) had a vision and he wanted to see it through," Wedge said in March when the game was announced. "We're all blessed to have this (stadium) here. This is something that is going to pass the test of time. Lou was a visionary. To have the opportunity to come back here and play the first game in this stadium, it's an honor and a privilege."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
