Wichita State (11-13, 0-0 American) at Houston (17-8, 0-0 American)
Friday, April 1 | 6:30 pm | Houston, Texas (Schroeder Park)
TV: ESPN Plus | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Jace Kaminska (1-2, 4.22) vs. RHP Jaycob Deese (1-1, 3.45)

Wichita State (11-13, 0-0 American) at Houston (17-8, 0-0 American)
Saturday, April 2 | 6:30 pm | Houston, Texas (Schroeder Park)
TV: ESPN Plus | Radio: KNSS 98.7 FM/1330 AM
LHP Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.62) vs. RHP Nathan Medrano (3-1, 4.24)

Wichita State (11-13, 0-0 American) at Houston (17-8, 0-0 American)
Sunday, April 3 | 1:00 pm | Houston, Texas (Schroeder Park)
TV: ESPN Plus | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Cameron Bye (2-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Derrick Cherry (2-1, 3.65)

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SCENE SETTER: The Shockers open American Athletic Conference play this weekend with a trip to Schroeder Park to take on the Houston Cougars. Wichita State enters the three-game series with an 11-13 overall record after dropping a midweek contest on Wednesday at Kansas by the score of 14-2. It was the most lopsided defeat of the season for the Shockers, who trailed 3-1 entering the bottom of the fifth before allowing 11 runs over the next three innings. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak against the Jayhawks. Wichita State opened the season dropping their first six games, the worst start to a campaign since the 1953 season. 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. Saturday's game will be aired on KNSS 98.7 FM/1330 AM due to a scheduling conflict. "The Voice of the Shockers" and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will have the call this weekend, with the pregame show beginning approximately 20 minutes prior to first pitch. All WSU home games at Eck Stadium in 2022 will air live on ESPN Plus (WatchESPN.com) with former Shocker All-American pitcher Shane Dennis handling the broadcasting duties. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available for all games at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com.

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Cougars have met 52 times, with Houston holding a 32-20 lead in the all-time series. Since Wichita State restarted the baseball program in 1978, WSU leads the series 13-12. The two teams met a record nine times in the 2021 season, including once in the American Athletic Conference tournament in Clearwater. After losing the first game of the season series against the Cougars, the Shockers rattled off eight consecutive victories, including a dominant four-game series in Wichita in which WSU outscored Houston 40-6. The Shockers and Cougars also played the first-ever game at Riverfront Stadium in downtown Wichita, a 10-1 win on April 10 in front of 7,509 fans. Prior to Wichita State's eight straight victories, the Cougars won seven in a row, including a three-game sweep at Schroeder Park in 2018.

SCOUTING HOUSTON: The Cougars enter the weekend with an overall record of 17-8, including a 12-3 mark at Schroeder Park. Houston has won each home weekend series so far this season, taking two of three against Western Carolina, Columbia and Incarnate Word, and winning all three games of a split weekend against UTRGV and Texas Southern. The Cougars lead the American Athletic Conference with a .284 team batting average, with six regulars in the starting lineup hitting at .297 or better. Anthony Tulimero paces the club with a .384 average, while Zach Arnold and Ryan Hernandez are tied for the team lead with four home runs apiece. The Cougars have homered just 20 times in 25 games. As a team, Houston is 35-for-51 stealing bases, as seven different individual players have been thrown out multiple times. The pitching staff is highlighted by a talented weekend rotation and closer Ben Sears, who has allowed just one run in 23.1 innings pitched so far this season, with 19 strikeouts and only one walk. Head Coach Todd Whitting is back for his 12th season at the helm of the Cougars, with a 362-271-1 record since taking over as head coach. The former TCU assistant has led Houston to three American regular season titles and two conference tournament championships. The Cougars were picked seventh in the 2022 American Preseason Poll, following a 19-34 (7-21) mark a season ago.

NO MINER ACCOMPLISHMENT: Wednesday starter Jace Miner became the eighth different Shocker pitcher to start a game in 2022, six of whom had never started a game at the Division-I level before this season. Entering the game with just 3.0 innings pitched, Miner went 4.0 innings against the Jayhawks, highlighted by a stretch where he retired 10 of 11 hitters from the end of the first inning through the fourth.

STOP AND START: Though eventually canceled, Tuesday's game against Missouri State was not abandoned for lack of effort. After weather delayed the original 6:00 pm start time 30 minutes, the game began with a Spencer Nivens leadoff single for Missouri State before more lightning was detected in the area, forcing a second delay of 40 minutes. Robert Cranz then struck out Will Duff following the second resumption of play at 7:15, but shortly thereafter umpires cleared the field yet again, and the game was ultimately canceled 15 minutes later.

BRILLIANT BYE: After beginning the season operating out of the bullpen, sophomore Cameron Bye has moved into the Sunday spot in the rotation and continued his near-flawless start to the 2022 season. With six more innings in the series finale against Creighton, the native of Euless, Texas has now opened the season with 21.2 innings without allowing an earned run (two unearned). Perhaps just as impressive, Bye has surrendered just nine hits for an opponent batting average of .122. He notched a career-best six strikeouts on Sunday to pick up his second win of the season.

RUNNING MAN: Sophomore outfielder Couper Cornblum has established himself as Wichita State's primary baserunning threat. On a team that has stolen just 21 bases in 28 attempts, Cornblum is now 7-for-7 after setting a new career high on Sunday with three swipes against Creighton. For his career, the former Freshman All-American has been successful on 26 of 31 stolen base attempts.

CONTROL ARTIST: Even though he surrendered his first runs of the season on Sunday, Wichita State closer Connor Holden extended an impressive streak of command to open the season. The graduate transfer from Murray State has yet to issue a walk over the span of ten appearances covering 13.0 innings, while punching out 14.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: Junior Sawyre Thornhill saw his season-opening 19-game hitting streak come to an end in Friday's series opener against Creighton. However, Thornhill did manage to extend his on-base streak to 23 games over the weekend, and then added to the streak with an RBI double in the third inning against Kansas.

LINEUP JUGGLING: Eric Wedge continues to tinker with the starting lineup in search of consistent production. Through 24 games, the Shockers have not used the same starters and batting order in consecutive games. Couper Cornblum has already started at seven different spots in the batting order, while three others players (Chuck Ingram, Xavier Casserilla and Ross Cadena) have starts at six different spots.

SHOCKERS IN THE RPI: Wichita State dropped to 130 in the latest RPI rankings following the series loss against Creighton, a 23-spot slip after entering the weekend at 107. Upcoming opponent Kansas enters play on Wednesday at 138. Wichita State has played Texas State (38), Oklahoma (45), Louisiana Tech (33), Oral Roberts (81) and Texas A&M (64) in the non-conference portion of the schedule, with three future matchups against Oklahoma State (24) on the way.

BIZARRE BASEBALL: Sunday's series finale against New Mexico featured one of the strangest plays in recent memory. In the fifth inning with the bases loaded, Sawyre Thornhill skied a ball over the fence in center for an apparent grand slam. However, on his trip around the bases Thornhill passed Brock Rodden at first base, who then went to the dugout instead of touching home plate. After a lengthy review, the umpires determined Thornhill was out for passing the runner, and Rodden was out for going out of the baseline. The result was a two-run single and an inning-ending double play, putting the Shockers in front by the score of 12-0. 

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Eck Stadium, home of Tyler Field, has consistently been one of the toughest places for opponents to win in its storied history. The Shockers own an all-time home record of 1,272-381-2, including an 862-278-2 mark at Tyler Field (first season 1988). Since taking over as head coach in 2020, Eric Wedge has put together a 36-13 record at Eck, highlighted by a spotless 10-0 mark during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

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.

ON DECK: The Shockers return home for a midweek game against top-10 foe Oklahoma State on Tuesday.