Shockers Welcome Tulane in Final AAC Home Series

5/12/2022 8:14:00 PM

SCENE SETTER: Wichita State opens the final home series of the season on Friday night, kicking off a three-game American Athletic Conference set against Tulane. The Shockers dropped two of three games over the weekend versus Houston, sandwiching a pair of defeats around a win on Saturday. Wichita State snapped a school-record nine-game home losing streak with Saturday's win, and last Saturday's victory over Memphis snapped a school-record 11-game losing streak dating back to April 12. After going 15 consecutive games from March 30 through April 22 without scoring more than five runs in a game, the Wichita State offense has scored five or more runs seven times in the last ten games. This past week was the first week of the season in which the Shockers did not play a midweek contest. 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. "The Voice of the Shockers" and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will have the call over the 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 Green Wave have met 20 times dating back to the 1993 season, with Tulane holding a 13-5 lead in the all-time series. Two of Wichita State's wins in 2012 were later vacated by the NCAA. The Green Wave have won six consecutive games in the series, sweeping a three-game set in New Orleans in 2021 before ending Wichita State's season with a 12-2 run-rule victory in the American Athletic Conference tournament. The two teams have not played in Wichita since the 2018 campaign, when the Shockers took two of three games. The Shockers also won two of three at Eck Stadium in 2012, but have struggled in New Orleans to the tune of a 3-9 mark. The first-ever matchup with Tulane came in Honolulu in 1993, a 5-3 Tulane win.

SCOUTING TULANE: The Green Wave enter the weekend with a 30-19-1 overall record, including a 10-8 mark in American Athletic Conference play good for fourth in the conference standings. Tulane bested South Alabama in a midweek game on Tuesday night, scoring four times in the bottom of the eighth to break a 7-7 deadlock. The Green Wave have dropped their last two conference series against Cincinnati and UCF, but own a series win over league-leading East Carolina and a pair of impressive non-conference series wins over Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State. As of the latest NCAA report, Tulane checks in at 62 in the RPI rankings. The Green Wave boast the league's top two hitters in terms of average, as Ethan Groff (.404) and Jackson Linn (.370) pace the circuit. Luis Aviles is tied for fifth in The American with ten home runs. As a team, Tulane leads the conference with 110 doubles and are tied for tops with 12 triples. On the mound, Dylan Carmouche is fifth in the league with 72 strikeouts, while closer Zach DeVito has recorded nine saves. Head Coach Travis Jewett is in his sixth season at the helm, with an overall record of 160-135-1. Prior to his arrival in New Orleans, Jewett served as an assistant coach at Gonzaga, Washington, Washington State, Arizona State and Vanderbilt, where he was associate head coach under Tim Corbin. The Green Wave finished 31-24 (17-10) last season.

SWITCHING IT UP: The Shockers have used a consistent weekend rotation throughout the 2022 season, with Jace Kaminska getting the start on all 12 Fridays and Payton Tolle starting 11 of 12 on either Saturday or Sunday. Wichita State is mixing up the rotation for this weekend's series against Tulane, starting left-hander Caden Favors on Friday and expecting to use another opener on Saturday. Favors has made one start this season and tossed a career-long 4.1 innings in relief on Saturday vs. Houston.

OFFENSE AWAKENING: One of the primary culprits in Wichita State's losing streak was an offense that averaged just 3.55 runs per game over the course of an 18-game stretch from March 25 through April 22. The Shockers slashed .222/.318/.349 as a team during the stretch. Beginning with the middle game of the UCF series, the Shocker bats have produced a .300/.373/.500 slash line in the succeeding 10 games, averaging 7.5 runs per contest.

JUST WANTED TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK: Wichita State has scored 19 runs this season in the first inning, hitting .192 as a team with only 12 extra-base hits. The second time through the order against an opposing starter has proven statistically significant, as the Shockers are hitting .292 and .304 in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

RODDEN RAMPAGE: Infielder Brock Rodden earned his second consecutive selection on the American Weekly Honor Roll Monday afternoon after continuing his torrid offensive pace. Over the last 12 games, Rodden is slashing .434/.483/.887, good for an OPS of 1.370. During that stretch, the junior college transfer has homered seven times and driven in 15 runs. Rodden currently leads The American in total bases with 118.

BIG SPLIT: The Wichita State offense has produced good numbers this season against left-handed pitching, hitting .293 for the year (130-for-443), an average buoyed by the fact that the Shockers regular starting lineup features just two true left-handed hitters. Against right-handers, however, the Shockers dip to .242 (291-for-1203), a difference of 51 points.

SPECIAL DAY: Saturday's 12-4 win over Houston featured a historic performance from Brock Rodden. The switch-hitting second baseman went 3-for-4, becoming the first Shocker with a multi-homer game in 2022, as well as the first WSU player to homer from both sides of the plate since Casey Gillaspie accomplished the feat on May 3, 2014. He scored three times and drove in three runs, adding a walk to reach base four times in five plate appearances.

LEADOFF STRUGGLES: A major factor in Wichita State's offensive struggles this season is the search for production out of the leadoff spot. Six different Shockers have started in the number one spot in the batting order, and the group has combined for a .226/.323/.395 slash line. Chuck Ingram has helped to solidify the leadoff spot, hitting .282 in that role with seven of his 13 home runs. For comparison, WSU hitters in the number nine spot in the order have combined to slash .294/.366/.399 this season.

CLUTCH ODDITY: Perhaps no single stat encapsulates the 2022 season quite like the disparity between the Shockers and their opponents in high-leverage situations. Wichita State is hitting just .217 as a team this season with runners in scoring position and two outs, while opponents are hitting .289 in the same spots.

MIDWEEK MISERY: With last Tuesday's defeat at Kansas State, the Shockers will end the 2022 season winless in midweek road games (0-7). In addition to the loss in Manhattan, Wichita State fell to Oklahoma (2x), Texas State, Oral Roberts, Oklahoma State and Kansas. All told, Wichita State is just 2-10 in midweek contests this season.

CHUCK AND DUCK: Shockers centerfielder Chuck Ingram continues to author some of the season's most impressive individual performances. In last Saturday's win over Memphis, Ingram went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run, driving in a career-high six runs and scoring a career-high three runs in the process. Earlier this season on March 20 versus New Mexico, Ingram established a Shocker single-game high in 2022 with five hits.

WALK IT OUT: The marathon 14-inning defeat to Cincinnati on April 15 featured just the fifth occurrence in program history of a Wichita State player drawing five walks in a single game, as Sawyre Thornhill accomplished the feat over the course of seven plate appearances. It was the first instance since the 2006 season a WSU player has walked five times, when Derek Schermerhorn drew five free passes in a game against Northern Colorado.

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 host Oklahoma on Monday night at Eck Stadium, a game that originally scheduled for March 22 before being postponed due to rain.

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Shockers Welcome Tulane in Final AAC Home Series