Wichita State (2-6, 0-0 American) at Oral Roberts (5-2, 0-0 Summit)
Tuesday, March 1 | 3:00 pm | Tulsa, Oklahoma (J.L. Johnson Stadium)
TV: ORUSN | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Matt Boyer (0-1, 7.71) vs. RHP Andrew Roach (0-0, 0.00)
     SCENE SETTER: Wichita State looks to build off a pair of victories to conclude the Kleberg Bank College Classic in Corpus Christi, having bested Pepperdine 5-2 and Iowa 8-7. Sunday's finale featured 14 walks, seven hit batters, four balks, and 15 runs on 15 hits. The game also ended on a bizarre play; Iowa had runners at first and second with one out against Wichita State closer Connor Holden when the Hawkeyes Brendan Sher hit a slow ground ball to first baseman Payton Tolle, who tossed to shortstop Andrew Stewart at second for the force out. Iowa runner Brayden Frazier went into second base standing, prompting the third base umpire to signal interference for a game-ending double play. The two victories at Whataburger Field snapped a six-game losing streak to start the season for WSU. The Shockers are coming off a 31-23 season a year ago, including an 18-13 mark in the American Athletic Conference that produced a third-place finish, WSU's best since joining the AAC in 2017. Wichita State is seeking their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since the 2013 season, a regional bid that was later vacated by the NCAA.
SHOCKER BASEBALL ON THE RADIO AND ESPN PLUS: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM will once again serve as the radio home for all Wichita State baseball broadcasts in 2022. Denning Gerig will have the call of Tuesday's game, with former Shocker All-American pitcher Shane Dennis back on the mic beginning Friday in Frisco. "The Voice of the Shockers" and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy joins the team later in the season following the conclusion of the men's basketball season. Pregame show begins approximately 20 minutes prior to first pitch. All WSU home games will air live on ESPN Plus (WatchESPN.com) with Dennis on the call. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available for all games at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com.
SERIES HISTORY: Tuesday represents the 69th all-time meeting between the Shockers and Golden Eagles, with Wichita State holding a 38-30 lead in the series. WSU has claimed the last four matchups, including wins in Tulsa in both 2019 and 2021. Last season, four WSU hurlers combined to blank ORU on just three hits, while Garrett Kocis hit a solo home run. Shocker pitching has limited the Golden Eagles to just seven runs over the last five matchups. The two teams alternated wins and losses over the course of seven games in the series from 2015 to 2018.
SHOCKER NOTES: The Shockers drew a season-high nine walks in Sunday's win over Iowa, including three from Xavier Casserilla...after going 43 innings without homering to start the season, WSU homered twice in all three games in Corpus Christi...Sunday starter Will Stevens became only the second player in Wichita State history to balk multiple times in a game, joining current Wichita State pitching coach Mike Pelfrey who committed three balks against Northern Iowa in 2003...Chuck Ingram matched his career-high with three RBI against Iowa, connecting for a two-run homer and driving in the go-ahead run with a fielder's choice...Sawyre Thornhill extended his season-opening hitting streak to eight games with a bunt single leading off the bottom of the sixth.
SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS: The Golden Eagles swept a rare Monday doubleheader with Saint Louis and Wright State to improve to 5-2 on the season. ORU has won four in a row after a 1-2 start to the season in Mobile, Alabama, dropping games to Tennessee Tech and Radford sandwiched around a victory over host South Alabama. The Golden Eagles are the preseason favorite to win the seven-team Summit League after going 31-23 (19-7) a year ago, dropping the Summit League championship game to North Dakota State. ORU's last regional appearance came in 2018. The Golden Eagles return five First Team all-conference selections from 2021, highlighted by league pitcher of the year Isaac Coffey. Head Coach Ryan Folmar is the reigning Summit League Coach of the Year, boasting a 286-192 record over the course of ten seasons with four regional appearances. The Golden Eagles have a challenging non-conference schedule that includes three games in Oxford, Mississippi against Ole Miss and midweek battles with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Nebraska. ORU is hitting a robust .315 as a team entering play on Tuesday, with a pitching staff that has fashioned a 3.05 ERA. Mac McCroskey leads the way offensively with a .536 average, going 15-for-28 with seven RBI to start the season.
SLOW START: Wichita State started a season 0-6 for the first time since the 1953 season, a year in which WSU played only 10 games. The Shockers began 0-3 in both 2012 and 2013, but in each case defeated Oral Roberts in the subsequent midweek game.
SCHEDULE CHANGES: Since wrapping up last weekend's three-game series at Louisiana Tech, the Shockers have been battling the effects of winter weather that has pounded the midwest. Last Tuesday's game at Oklahoma was moved up from its original start time, Thursday's game against Texas State was moved from Globe Life Field to San Marcos, and Saturday's scheduled game against Pepperdine was changed from a 2:00 pm first pitch to noon.
TALENTED TOLLE: Freshman left-hander Payton Tolle has compiled the two best starts of the season for Wichita State through the opening two weeks of the season. In his debut against Louisiana Tech on February 19, the native of Yukon, Oklahoma allowed just one run over 6.0 innings of work. He bested that performance on Saturday against Pepperdine, holding the Waves to a single unearned run over 6.1 frames with seven strikeouts. He has allowed ten hits in 12.1 total innings, all singles.
HOLDEN IT DOWN: Grad transfer Connor Holden has solidified the back end of the Wichita State bullpen. Through three appearances as the Shocker closer, Holden has allowed just two baserunners, both in his last outing against Iowa. The Hawkeyes put the first two men on against Holden in the top of the ninth of a one-run game, but a strikeout and a double play ended the threat to secure Holden's second save. The native of Louisville, Kentucky was 5-1 with a 4.43 ERA and nine saves over four seasons at Murray State.
BROCK AND ROLL: Infielder Brock Rodden is off to a strong start at the top of the batting order, notching eight hits (four for extra bases) and six walks to seven strikeouts. He blasted the first home run of the season for the Shockers on Thursday against Texas State, then added a solo shot in the come-from-behind win over Iowa on Sunday.
ESTABLISH THE RUNNING GAME: The Shockers have only attempted eight stolen bases through the first eight games of 2022, going 6-for-8. Wichita State did not attempt their first steal until the fifth inning of Thursday's loss at Texas State. Meanwhile, opponents have swiped 19 bases in 21 attempts against WSU, including 11 stolen bases from Oklahoma last Tuesday.
TRANSFER TRACKER: The Shockers added 12 transfers to the 2022 roster, including six from Division-I programs. RHP Connor Holden (Murray State), LHP Austin Wallace (Texas), LHP Adam Ketelsen (Iowa), INF Will Carpenter (Penn State), RHP Matt Boyer (Saint Louis) and RHP Grayson Jones (James Madison) all make their way to Wichita for 2022.
LEANING ON THE LONE STAR STATE: 14 Shockers on the roster hail from Texas, easily the most of any one state. Oklahoma is next closest with nine, then four from Kansas. The Texans will have plenty of opportunities to shine in front of friends and family, as Wichita State plays ten games in the state of Texas in 2022 (one game in Arlington, three in Corpus Christi, three in Frisco, three in Houston).
POLL POSITION: The Shockers were picked fourth in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll, the highest preseason projection for Wichita State since joining the AAC in 2017. First baseman Garrett Kocis and RHP Jace Kaminska were both selected to the AAC Preseason All-Conference Team.
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY: Shocker coaches Eric Wedge, Mike Pelfrey, Mike Sirianni and Director of Operations Loren Hibbs all have ties to the WSU baseball program. Wedge powered the Shockers to a national championship as the starting catcher in 1989, earning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors along the way. Pelfrey was an All-American starter who ranks second in program history in ERA (2.18) and strikeouts (366). Sirianni was a volunteer assistant coach for the Shockers in 2015 and 2016 before taking the head coaching position at Regis University. Hibbs helped WSU to the program's first-ever CWS appearance in 1982, and still holds the NCAA record for single-season runs scored with 125.
SUPPLEMENTING THE STAFF: The Shockers added volunteer assistant coach Conor Behrens (pronounced BEAR-enns) to the staff in late January after previous volunteer Easton Herring accepted a position with the Virginia Tech softball program. Behrens comes to Wichita after stops at Point Loma Nazarene and Central Missouri, where he helped the Mules to a national runner-up finish in 2021.
ON DECK: The Shockers return to the Lone Star State on Friday for the Frisco Classic, beginning with a matchup against Iowa.
