Memphis at Wichita State
Wichita, Kan. | Wilkins Stadium
April 22-24 (6:00 PM/1:00 PM/12:00 PM)
ESPN+ | Statbroadcast.com

QUICK HITS
• Wichita State welcomes Memphis to Wilkins Stadium for a three-game series, April 22-24.
• Wichita State is riding a five-game win streak, tied for a season long.
• 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 44 career home runs, placing her in 2nd on the Wichita State home run list.
• Barnard leads the nation in home runs, home runs per game and RBI, ranks 3rd in RBI per game, 4th in total bases and 6th in slugging percentage.
• Barnard's 22 home runs are tied for the single season record, which she set a season ago.
• 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 1st in the NCAA in hits, 3rd in runs per game, 5th in batting average and 6th in total bases.
• Neleigh Herring is in 7th on the career home run list with 32.
• 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 35 nationally in home runs per game (2nd), home runs (3rd), scoring (4th), slugging percentage (5th), on base percentage (6th), batting average (7th), doubles (32nd) and doubles per game (23rd).
• Sydney McKinney cracked the top 10 hits list at Wichita State. With her 243 hits, she sits in 3rd all time. McKinney set the single season record a season ago with 87.
• Sydney McKinney is one of 25 finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
• 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.
• 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 3 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 MEMPHIS
Memphis is 2-10 in league play and 16-29 overall entering the weekend. The Tigers sport just a .258 batting average as a team to go with 19 home runs. Gracie Morton does it all for Memphis. She hits .422 with four home runs, six doubles and 19 RBI. In the circle, Memphis carries a 5.45 ERA into the weekend and opponents are hitting .309 against them. Hallie Siems has thrown a team-high 129.1 innings and is 7-15 with a 4.31 ERA.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Memphis first met in February 2010 with the two teams splitting a doubleheader. Since Wichita State joined the American Athletic Conference in 2018, the Shockers are 8-2 against the Tigers. Wichita State has won seven straight vs. Memphis and leads the all-time series, 9-3.

LAST MEETING WITH THE TIGERS
Wichita State swept a four-game series at Memphis a season ago, April 1-3. The Shockers run-ruled the Tigers 12-2 in the first game and then completed the series sweep with a 6-2, 6-5 and 5-0 win in Games 2-4. Wichita State hit five home runs in the run-rule, while Bailey Lange picked up two wins and a save in the series. Ryleigh Buck hit three home runs over four games, including two in the second game.

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State run-ruled Kansas on Wednesday in a midweek matchup at Wilkins Stadium. The Shockers led wire-to-wire in a 9-1 win in five innings. Wichita State hit four home runs, including two by Addison Barnard, pushing her season total to 22. Her 22 home runs lead the nation and tie her own single season record, which she set last season. Neleigh Herring and Jessica Garcia hit one home run apiece and Erin McDonald allowed only one run on two hits, while striking out seven in 5.0 IP.

USA SOFTBALL POY TOP 25 FINALIST
Junior Sydney McKinney was named a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 25 finalist on April 20. McKinney is one of only two players from the American Athletic Conference on the prestigious list, joining South Florida's Georgina Corrick. McKinney is coming off an All-American campaign in 2021 where she ranked third nationally in hits. She is the first Shocker in program history to make the Top 25 for USA Softball POY.

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.

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.

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 38 games in 2022 Barnard has 22 home runs, 24 stolen bases and 57 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 44 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. Barnard ranks 24th in the nation with 24 steals. That is the second most in a season at Wichita State. The single season record is 25.

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.

MCKINNEY MILESTONE WATCH
» Sydney McKinney is just eight hits away from becoming Wichita State's all-time hits leader. The record is currently 250 and McKinney sits at 243.
» McKinney has 153 career runs scored - the second most in school history. She is seven runs shy of taking the top spot.
» McKinney is on pace to shatter her own single season record for batting average. She set it at .439 a season ago and is currently No. 5 in the nation at .485.
» McKinney has a career batting average of .413. 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.
» With a career on base percentage of .468, McKinney currently holds the top spot in that category as well.
» With two more doubles and one more triple she will crack the top 10 list on the career charts in those respective categories.

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 38 games Wichita State has 82 home runs.

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 38 games in 2021, Wichita State had hit 73 home runs. Through 38 games in 2022... Wichita State is at 82 - five homers ahead of the record-breaking Shockers had at this point a year ago.

DOUBLE DIGIT HOMERS
Wichita State is one of only six teams in the country that have at least four players with 10 or more home runs this season. Addison Barnard (22), Sydney McKinney (11), Neleigh Herring (11) and Zoe Jones (11) all have double digit homers, while Lauren Lucas (8) and Lauren Mills (7) are on the brink of hitting the double digit mark. Oklahoma, UNC Greensboro, Georgia, Arkansas and Miami (OH) make up the other programs.

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.

THE HITS KEEP COMING
Since Wichita State entered the American Athletic Conference in 2018, the Shockers have been the league's top offensive team in the league. Not counting the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Wichita State has led the American in batting average (2021), slugging percentage (2018-21), on base percentage (2019-21), runs (2019-21), RBI (2019-21), doubles (2018, 2021), home runs (2018-21), total bases (2018-21) and walks (2019, 2021).

UP NEXT
Wichita State travels to Greenville, N.C., for a league series at East Carolina, April 29 - May 1.