By Paul Suellentrop
 
Wichita State second baseman Brock Rodden signed autographs behind home plate at Riverfront Stadium for at least 10 minutes on Tuesday. A group of young fans in Oklahoma gear joined the group to give him his props.
 
Baseball memories all around, courtesy of Rodden's three-run home run that turned a frustrating night into a Shocker celebration. Rodden's blast to right field provided the go-ahead runs in an 8-7 win over the Sooners, the final touch in a four-run rally.
 
"You think about moments like that all the time and they don't happen very often," Rodden said. "It's always one of the coolest things to see all your teammates really excited."
 
The Shockers (14-10) won their fourth straight game and defeated the Sooners (13-12) for a third straight time. They led 2-0 before trailing 5-2, rallying to within a run, and then trailing 7-4 entering the eighth inning.
 
"Wow," Wichita State interim coach Loren Hibbs said. "We kept fighting. You've just got to keep playing. Keep playing. Our guys have heard us say that enough this year already. They're starting to believe that if you hang in there, good things are going to happen."
 
The Shockers did some good things in the first seven innings, highlighted by three scoreless innings from starter Caden Favors. Rodden singled and doubled to drive in runs. Garrett Pennington doubled in a run.
 
 

If you don't know the name Brock Rodden, it's time to learn it.@NCAABaseball | @11point7 | @d1baseball pic.twitter.com/YxbEG4hM5V

— Wichita State Baseball (@GoShockersBSB) March 29, 2023

 
 
Then some bad. Walks and sloppy defense helped OU grab the lead and extend it. Wichita State left the bases loaded in the first inning and stranded runners in scoring position in the fifth and seventh innings.
 
The Shockers entered the eighth down 5-4. Reliever Matt Wilkinson walked the leadoff batter to open the door to two Sooner runs. The Shockers put two runners on with one out, then saw their rally stumble when OU catcher Diego Muniz threw Kyte McDonald out at third on a double steal.
 
That left Jack Little at the plate with two outs, Seth Stroh at second, and the Shockers still down two runs. Little bounced a ground ball to third baseman Wallace Clark, who threw low and past his first baseman and into foul territory.
 
"I was trying to run hard down the line, and anything can happen," Little said.
 
Stroh scored. Little moved to second. A walk to Chuck Ingram – who battled back down 1-2 – brought up Rodden.
 
He fell behind 1-2 and then hammered a breaking pitch down the right-field line.
 
"He made a couple good pitches to get ahead," Rodden said. "He left a breaking ball up and that allowed me to get the hands extended. The rest is history."
 
Little enjoyed the view from second base.
 
"I stood there and watched it," he said. "Brock's a really, really good hitter. He hammers balls."
 
Hibbs watched from the dugout and thought about Rodden's hours in the batting cage.
 
"That ball stayed straight," Hibbs said. "When you put a good swing on a ball like that it's going to stay straight instead of rounding off. That's a credit to him and his hard work. He's got a good swing path."
 
Cameron Bye finished off the Sooners by striking out three of the four batters faced.
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.