Kansas at Wichita State
April 20 @ 6 PM
Wilkins Stadium | Wichita, Kan. 
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QUICK HITS
• Wichita State and Kansas meet for a midweek matchup in Wilkins Stadium on Wednesday, April 20.
• Wichita State is 7-3 in its last 10 games.
• Wichita State is coming off a conference series sweep at Houston last weekend. The Shockers have won the last seven meetings vs. the Cougars after the sweep.
• Addison Barnard has 42 career home runs, placing her in 2nd on the Wichita State home run list.
• Barnard leads the nation in home runs per game, ranks 2nd in total home runs, 3rd in RBI per game and 4th in RBI.
• Barnard is 20th in the country in stolen bases with 24. Her 24 steals already surpass her total from 2021.
• Barnard is the only player in the country with 20+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases.
• Barnard was the NFCA National Player of the Week on April 5.
• Sydney McKinney ranks 2nd in the NCAA in hits and 5th in batting average, total bases and runs per game.
• Neleigh Herring is in T-7th on the career home run list with 31.
• Wichita State has claimed four American Player of the Week honors in 2022: Addison Barnard (Feb. 14, Apr. 4), Sydney McKinney (Feb. 21) and Lauren Lucas (Apr. 18). Zoe Jones (Feb. 28), Lauren Lucas (Mar. 7 & 21), Lauren Mills (Mar. 14)  and Alison Cooper (April 11) have been named to the weekly honor roll.
• Wichita State ranks in the Top 30 nationally in home runs per game (2nd), scoring (4th), home runs (5th), slugging percentage (5th), on base percentage (6th), batting average (8th), doubles (28th) and doubles per game (23rd).
• Sydney McKinney cracked the top 10 hits list at Wichita State. With her 241 hits, she sits in 3rd all time. McKinney set the single season record a season ago with 87.
• Sydney McKinney and sophomore Addison Barnard were named preseason All-Americans by Softball America, becoming the first Shocker duo to earn preseason All-American honors in school history.
• Wichita State was picked by the league's coaches to repeat as American Athletic Conference Champions in the preseason coaches poll.
• The Shockers garnered four first place votes and finished with 33 points in the preseason coaches poll. South Florida was picked second with 31 total points, followed by UCF (29).
• Wichita State has only 11 home games on the schedule for 2022, which is tied for the fewest in school history (1983).
• Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner is just 4 wins away from becoming Wichita State's all-time winningest coach. Jim Maynard sits in first with 313 career wins.
• Bredbenner recorded her 300th career win at Wichita State on March 14 vs. Kansas.

SCOUTING KANSAS
Kansas comes into the matchup at 14-25 this season. Lyric Moore hits .394 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI. Ashlyn Anderson sports a .328 average to go with a team-best 10 home runs and 29 RBI. As a team, Kansas is hitting .277 with 40 home runs and 56 doubles. The Jayhawk pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.74 and opponents are hitting .300 against them. Kasey Hamilton leads KU in appearances, innings pitched and strikeouts, but has just a 6-14 record and a 5.39 ERA.

SERIES HISTORY
A series that dates all the way back to 1978, Wichita State and Kansas are coming up on the 100th all-time meeting. The two programs have faced off 95 times entering the midweek matchup, a series Kansas dominated in the early years. The Jayhawks own a 73-21-1 record over the Shockers.

LAST MEETING WITH THE JAYHAWKS
Wichita State defeated Kansas last month on March 14 in Lawrence, as part of the Jayhawk Invitational. Wichita State led from start to finish thanks to a four-run top of the 1st. Neleigh Herring hit a three-run home run in the frame. The Shockers scored two more in the fourth and three in the seventh for a 9-2 win. Erin McDonald recorded the win in relief, throwing 5.2 innings. She struck out five and allowed no runs on just five hits.

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State recorded its second conference series sweep of the season with a 3-0 weekend at Houston, April 14-16. The Shockers run-ruled the Cougars in game one, 10-1, and then by scores of 7-3 and 7-6 in the final two games. Wichita State hit eight home runs over the weekend, including five in the finale. The Shockers hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the 5th inning off the bats of Addison Barnard, Lauren Lucas and Zoe Jones. Barnard hit two in the game, registering her fourth multi-home run game of the season.

ADDIE THE BADDIE
Addison Barnard is putting together a season for the history books... again.
» Speed & Power: Barnard is in a league of her own when it comes to combining speed and power. The Nebraska native is the only player in the NCAA to have at least 20 home runs and 20 or more stolen bases this season. Through 37 games in 2022 Barnard has 20 home runs, 24 stolen bases and 52 RBI.
» A Club of One: Barnard is the first Shocker in program history to record a 20-20 season of 20+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases.
» Active HR List: She needed only 54 career games to crack the top 10 home run list at Wichita State. Barnard now has 42 career home runs, placing her in 2nd all time at Wichita State. To put that in perspective, among active players in NCAA Softball, Barnard is already in the Top 30. She is one of just two sophomores in the nation with 40 career home runs. The top 30 active home run leaders by age: 30 seniors and 2 sophomores.
» Running to the Record Book: Barnard broke the single game school record for runs, scoring five at Sam Houston on Sunday, Feb. 13. She scored 11 runs over the weekend after previously setting a career high with four against Dayton on Feb. 11.
» Wanted for theft: Barnard stole a career-high three bases in the season opener vs. Dayton (Feb. 11), becoming the first Shocker to swipe three bags in a game since Mackenzie Wright had 4 on Feb. 27, 2016. She added two more in both games vs. Sam Houston and Houston Baptist. Barnard finished opening weekend with nine steals in 10 attempts. After the first two months of play Barnard ranks 20th in the nation with 24 steals. That is the second most in a season at Wichita State. The single season record is 25.

AMERICAN TABS LUCAS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Lauren Lucas was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on April 18. The Little Elm, Texas, native hit .583 (7-for-12) with a home run, three doubles and four RBI. She had multiple hits in all three games at Houston, including a season-high tying three hits in the victory on April 15. In Saturday's (April 16) come-from-behind win, Lucas hit the middle homer of back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning.

COOPER CLAIMS HONOR ROLL SPOT
Freshman Alison Cooper was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on April 11. The Granbury, Texas, native threw a complete game in a Sunday win at USF on April 10. Cooper allowed just one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out a pair. She recorded her third complete game of the season and the four hits allowed tied a season low.

BARNARD'S BIG WEEKEND EARNS POW HONORS
Sophomore Addison Barnard racked up multiple Player of the Week honors on April 4-5, highlighted by Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week honors. Barnard is the first Shocker to be named National Player of the Week. In four games during the week of March 28-April 3, Barnard hit .500 with 5 home runs and 14 RBI. She finished the series vs. Tulsa with back-to-back two-home run games. She opened the week earning her second American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor and was also named the D1 Softball Player of the Week on April 5.

ALL WE DO IS HIT
In Wichita State's 16-2 win over Kansas City on March 18, the Shockers broke the single game school record for hits with 22. The bested the previous record of 21 which was set on April 20, 2016 at Missouri State. Sydney McKinney and Addison Barnard went a combined 8-for-8 in the game.

BREDBENNER REACHES MILESTONE
Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner recorded her 300th career win at Wichita State on Monday, March 14 vs. Kansas. She is just the second coach in program history to record 300 wins.

THE BOMBS ARE BACK
Wichita State graduated four seniors in the every day lineup in 2021, including 44 of the team's 103 home runs. It would be natural to question the offense in 2022 with as much production that Wichita State lost. At the opening tournament in Huntsville (Feb. 11-13), Wichita State hit 11 home runs in the five games, which was six more than the Shockers hit on opening weekend a year ago. Wichita State is coming off a slugging weekend at home vs. Tulsa where they hit 12 homers in three games. Through 37 games Wichita State has 78 home runs.

ELITE COMPANY
Junior Sydney McKinney has a career batting average of .411. That number places her among the elite in all of college softball. She ranks 18th on the active list for career batting average in NCAA DI. She is only 13 percentage points from moving into the top 10.

RPI - WEEK SEVEN
Wichita State checked in at No. 40 in the seventh RPI rankings on April 18. The Shockers have already faced nine teams in the Top 60, including No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 11 Oklahoma State, No. 27 Nebraska, No. 31 Illinois, No. 33 Charlotte, No. 38 Minnesota, No. 41 South Florida and No. 55 South Dakota State. Wichita State still has a three-game series against No. 15 UCF.

PITCHERS BEWARE
Wichita State obliterated the school record for home runs in a single season in 2021. The Shockers crushed 103 - a mark that ranked second nationally behind only the defending National Champion, Oklahoma Sooners. Through 37 games in 2021, Wichita State had hit 73 home runs. Through 37 games in 2022... Wichita State is at 78 - five homers ahead of the record-breaking Shockers had at this point a year ago.

ROAD WARRIORS
Wichita State has only 11 home games on the schedule for the 2022 season, which is tied for the fewest in school history. The 1983 team also played only 11 home games, but competed in just 29 games total. The Shockers' first 29 games this season are all away from the friendly confines of Wilkins Stadium. Wichita State's home opener isn't until March 23 vs. Kansas.

UP NEXT
Wichita State hosts Memphis for a three-game conference series at Wilkins Stadium this weekend, April 22-24.