Wichita State (15-29, 4-11Â American) vs. Kansas State (22-21, 4-11Â Big 12)
Tuesday, May 3Â | 6:00Â pm |Â Manhattan, Kansas (Tointon Family Stadium)
TV: ESPN+Â | Radio:Â KFH 97.5Â FM/1240Â AM
LHP Jace Miner (0-2, 8.85) vs. RHP German Fajardo (3-1, 2.96)
SCENE SETTER: Wichita State hits the road for one final midweek game away from Eck Stadium, making the short trip north to Manhattan for a Tuesday night matchup with Kansas State. The Shockers are coming off a series win on the road at Memphis over the weekend, winning Saturday and Sunday after dropping the opener on Friday night. Saturday's victory snapped a school-record 11-game losing streak dating back to April 12. Wichita State reached double-figures in each of the last two games of the series after scoring ten or more runs just once in the prior 23 games. A win on Tuesday would secure Wichita State's first stretch of three straight wins since March 11. 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 on Tuesday, 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 Wildcats will be meeting for the 97th time in program history on Tuesday, with the Shockers holding a 56-41 lead in the all-time series. Since restarting the baseball program in 1978, Wichita State has gone 53-29 against the Wildcats, though Kansas State claimed the first matchup between the two programs this season with an emphatic 12-1 win on April 18 at Eck Stadium. The Shockers are looking for the first win in Manhattan since the 2012 season, a wild 9-7 victory that took 15 innings. Don Lambert provided the game-winning hit with a two-run double, and three Shocker relievers (Kyle Bouman, Cale Elam, A.J. Ladwig) threw 8.2 hitless, scoreless innings of relief. Wichita State has dropped seven straight at Tointon Family Stadium since that win.
SCOUTING KANSAS STATE: The Wildcats enter play on Tuesday with an overall record of 22-21, including a 4-11 mark in Big 12 play. Kansas State dropped a pair of one-sided games on the road at Oklahoma over the weekend, but bounced back with a come-from-behind 8-7 win on Sunday to salvage the series finale. The Wildcats are fourth in the conference with a .286 batting average, and third with a .497 slugging percentage. They have stolen only 35 bases on the season in 43 games, third-fewest in the league. Kansas State pitchers have combined for a 6.06 ERA, second-worst on the circuit, a number hampered by a league-worst 229 walks and a defense that has committed 57 errors for a .964 fielding percentage. Dominic Johnson paces the Wildcats offensively, bringing an OPS of 1.025 into play on Monday thanks in large part to a .357 batting average and 16 doubles. Six different Wildcats have slugged six or more home runs. Expected starter German Fajardo leads Kansas State with a 2.96 ERA and is one of six different Kansas State pitchers who have recorded a save. He tossed five scoreless innings against the Shockers in the first meeting. Head Coach Pete Hughes returns for his fourth year at the helm of the Wildcats in 2022. The former Oklahoma skipper guided Kansas State to a 34-23 record a season ago, and the Wildcats were picked seventh in the 2022 Big 12 preseason poll. Kansas State is in search of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2013 season.
TWO-OUT MAGIC: The Shockers entered Sunday's series finale at Memphis hitting just .213 for the season with two outs in an inning (98-for-458). They reversed the trend in a big way against the Tigers, banging out eight two-out hits as part of a 10-6 victory. The highlight of the afternoon was a third-inning barrage that featured five consecutive two-out hits, turning a runner at first with two down into a five-run inning. Seven of the ten runs on the day scored with two outs.
MIDWEEK MISERY: Tuesday will be Wichita State's last opportunity to snag a road midweek victory in 2022. Entering the matchup at Kansas State, the Shockers are 0-6 in midweek road games this season, losing to Oklahoma (2x), Texas State, Oral Roberts, Oklahoma State and Kansas. All told, Wichita State is just 2-9 in midweek contests this season.
RODDEN AND ROLLING: Infielder Brock Rodden earned his second selection on the American Weekly Honor Roll Monday afternoon thanks to a big week offensively. The switch-hitter went a combined 9-for-18 (.500) in four contests, homering twice, scoring six runs and driving in five. From the final game of the UCF series last Sunday through the opener against Memphis, Rodden homered in three consecutive games. He has raised his season batting average 34 points over the last five games to its team-leading .312 mark.
SENIOR SWINGS: The Shockers got major offensive contributions over the weekend from a pair of seniors who entered the series scuffling. Garrett Kocis slammed home runs on both Saturday and Sunday to up his season total to six, and Ross Cadena matched his career high with three runs scored in each of the final two games of the series, highlighted by his first homer of 2022 in the series finale. Kocis hit .286 with 12 home runs a season ago and Cadena hit .274, but the duo has slipped to .184 and .243, respectively.
MISSING A MULTI: 44 games into the season, Wichita State is still searching for their first multi-homer game of the season from an individual hitter. The Shockers had seven multi-homer against a season ago, including three from Garrett Kocis.
TOUGH ASSIGNMENT: Freshman Jace Miner has been issued a tall task over the last several weeks, making three separate starts against top-10 ranked Oklahoma State. The southpaw has been up to challenge, exiting with the lead in two of those three starts, including last Tuesday when he surrendered three earned runs in four innings.
CHUCK AND DUCK: Shockers centerfielder Chuck Ingram continues to author some of the season's most impressive individual performances. In Saturday's win over Memphis, Ingram went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run, joining Seth Stroh as the only Shockers with three extra-base hits in a game this season. Ingram drove in a career-high six runs and scored a career-high three runs in the process, adding a walk to his resume for good measure. Earlier this season on March 20 versus New Mexico, Ingram established a Shocker single-game high in 2022 with five hits.
RIVERFRONT RETURN: The Shockers hosted last Tuesday night's contest at Riverfront Stadium, the home of the Wichita Wind Surge, Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. It was Wichita State's second-ever game at the facility; when the Wind Surge's 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shockers had the opportunity to play the first-ever game at the brand-new ballpark on April 10, 2021. In front of 7,509 fans (7th most in program history) Wichita State routed Houston 10-1. Jace Kaminska tossed a complete game to earn the victory, and both Paxton Wallace and Hunter Gibson homered in the win.
BACK-TO-BACK: After going 37 games without utilizing the same starting lineup (including positions and batting order) on consecutive days, the Shockers trotted out the same nine on both Friday and Saturday of the UCF series. Eight individual Shockers have batted in at least five different spots in the batting order this season, and eight have played at least three different positions.
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 Houston in a three-game American Athletic Conference series at Eck Stadium.
