The RoundHouse | 3/13/2022 7:05:00 PM

 
 
Wichita State baseball coach Eric Wedge talked about playing steady baseball.
 
He was not talking about most of Sunday's game, which turned into a stereotypically wacky Sunday-deep-into-the-pitching-staff game with wind gusts of 25-30 mph added to the fun.
 
The Shockers defeated South Dakota State 19-7 on Sunday at Eck Stadium to get back to .500. Wichita State (8-8) climbed out of an 0-6 start and, after a playing 11 games away from home, gets nine more at Eck Stadium this month.
 
Things started badly for the Shockers. They held it together during a road swing that took them from Louisiana to Oklahoma and Texas. Now they've got a chance to keep rolling at home before American Athletic Conference play.
 
"They've been better in all areas," Wedge said. "We didn't panic. I told them their effort was good. Their attitude was good. Their energy was good."
 
Somewhere in Texas, the Shockers started to add consistent good baseball into that mix. Starting with a 5-2 win over Pepperdine and continuing through two wins over Iowa and wins over Washington State and Texas A&M, the bad start receded.
 
"We became closer as a team, shaking off some of those tough losses," shortstop Andrew Stewart. "It was just grinding through it. We knew we were going to come out of it at some point, so keep playing."
 
Much of that consistency Wedge was looking for early comes from the pitching staff. After compiling a 7.13 ERA through the 0-6 start, the Shockers lowered that to 4.35 over their next 10 games. Sophomore Jace Kaminska is coming off his best start of the season and freshman Payton Tolle is 2-1 with a 1.38 ERA. Closer Connor Holden has four saves and hasn't allowed a run in 7 1/3 innings.
 
 

First career 💣 for @stewystewartson is a 3-run shot to left field. Shocks now lead 12-5 after 4 innings pic.twitter.com/Y4ro3ZAKTM

— Wichita State Baseball (@GoShockersBSB) March 13, 2022

Filling the innings in between those three is the question. Cameron Bye added three more scoreless innings to his resume on Sunday, quieting the South Dakota State bats before handing it off to Holden. Bye, who started Tuesday's 6-5 win over Oral Roberts, hasn't allowed an earned run in 12 1/3 innings.
 
"His command is so much better, and he has a three-pitch mix," Wedge said. "He utilizes that changeup, and that's a pretty good pitch for him."
 
Bye and Holden kept an unpredictable, wind-blown game from turning into a bigger mess. The Shockers struggled tracking down flyballs in the gusts and bright sky and allowed three playable balls to drop. The Jackrabbits had their own, although they made the plays.
 
"No excuses," Stewart said. "Looks like on Tuesday, we'll be doing flyball communication, absolutely."
 
Wichita State's bats made all the mistakes irrelevant. Stewart his hit first college home run as part of a nine-run fourth inning that gave the Shockers a 12-5 lead. Second baseman Brock Rodden and center fielder Chuck Ingram also homered that inning.
 
Stewart went 3 for 4 with four runs and four driven in. He went 5 for 11 in the series, adding a double on Saturday, to raise his season average to .300.
 
"He's been swinging the bat well lately, not just today," Wedge said. "When you talk about Andrew, you talk about a guy that you want to hit the ball in front of the outfielders. The last couple days, he's hitting the ball behind them. That says a lot."

Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.