Baseball | 3/27/2023 4:58:00 PM
By Paul Suellentrop
The top of the Wichita State batting order looks familiar, both in form and function.
Outfielder
Chuck Ingram is back in the leadoff spot with second baseman
Brock Rodden hitting second, as they did in the second half of 2022. Both are heating up and looking more like the hitters who led the Shockers in batting average, home runs and slugging percentage in 2022.
"It's nice having him in front of me right now, absolutely torching the ball," Rodden said. "It's fun hitting with runners in scoring position all the time. I'm getting chances to drive more baseballs with him right in front of me hotter than doughnut grease."
The Shockers (13-10) play Oklahoma (13-11) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Riverfront Stadium. Wichita State fattened up its offensive numbers in a three-game sweep of UMass last weekend, winning 12-2, 12-2 and 14-2.
Ingram's hot streak stretches back farther than the weekend and sparked his move up the batting order. He slumped to .204 eight games ago. Then a 4-for-4 performance in a 6-2 win over the Sooners got him started on an 18-for-34 (.529) stretch over the past eight games. That run, which included three homers, four doubles and a triple, raised his average to .337.
"Last year, we were 1-2 and had some success," Ingram said. "I started the same way last year, started off slow, hitting at the bottom of the lineup. Then I slowly worked my way up, seeing the ball better."
Interim coach
Loren Hibbs likes Ingram and Rodden at the top of the order because they like being at the top of order. Data, he said, shows they see the same kind of pitches, regardless of where they hit in the order. The data also shows both are pounding baseballs.
"(Ingram's) not your conventional leadoff hitter, but he's got some comfort level in the leadoff spot," Hibbs said. "I guess it's almost getting a (basketball) shooter in the same spot he feels comfortable in consistently."
A season ago, Ingram's average rested at .246 after 16 games. He went 9 for 13 in his next three games to rise to .324 and stayed at .280 or above until finishing 2022 at .310 with 14 home runs and 13 doubles. In both cases, coaches say Ingram kept working until the hits fell.
On Sunday, Ingram arrived at Eck Stadium at 8:30 a.m., two hours before the team meeting and four-and-a-half hours before the game. He worked with assistant coaches
Mike Sirianni and
Conor Behrens and teammates.
"It's all about the players doing the work," Hibbs said. "They have to be willing to get up. Get here and get their work done. We talk to our players a lot about how you can't just do the minimum."
Ingram, a junior from Kansas City, worked to cover the plate and give himself a better chance to hit sliders that troubled him. Creighton threw him sliders almost exclusively in a two-game series earlier in the month and he is trying to redirect those pitches to the opposite field.
"I know I'm going to get them, so knowing that and sitting on it and go the other way with it has been helpful," he said.
When he worked Sunday morning, he spent a lot of time with front-toss flips, where a coach sits behind a screen and toss baseballs for him to hit.
"It helps me be slow with my load and also helps me feel my hands to the oppositive-field gap," Ingram said.
Rodden, who led the Shockers with a .338 average and 17 home runs in 2022, is also in a good groove. His average is at .333 and he carries a 17-game hitting streak into the week. In his past 10 games, he has four of his six home runs and five of his eight doubles.
Rodden also heated up as the season wore on in 2022. He didn't consistently move above .300 until the end of April and hit .406 with 11 home runs in the season's final 21 games.
Wichita State's data says Rodden leads the team in average exit velocity on all balls, regardless of outcome. He is getting a reward for those hard-hit balls more frequently in recent games.
"It's starting to turn around a little bit," he said. "It's a little frustrating whenever you continue to put a good swing on a ball, but it's right at somebody. That's baseball. Everything is going to even out."
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
