Wichita State (20-15, 5-4Â American) vs. Kansas State (24-14, 9-6Â Big 12)
Tuesday, April 18Â | 6:00Â pm CT | Manhattan, Kansas (Tointon Family Stadium)
TV: Big 12 Now/ESPN+Â | Radio:Â KFH 97.5Â FM/1240Â AM
RHP Matt Boyer (1-0, 6.23) vs. RHP Jackson Wentworth (1-3, 7.76 ERA)
SCENE SETTER: Wichita State wraps up a five-game road swing with a battle against in-state foe Kansas State on Tuesday night in Manhattan. The Shockers are coming off their first series win at Tulane in program history, bouncing back from an opening game defeat to take the final two contests in New Orleans. After going 5-18 in true road games last season, Wichita State has improved to 9-8 in 2023, including a 3-1 mark in road series. The Shockers are 3-5 in midweek games this season, with two wins against Oklahoma and one at Oklahoma State.
SHOCKER BASEBALL ON THE RADIO AND ESPN PLUS: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM will once again serve as the radio home for Wichita State baseball broadcasts in 2023. "The Voice of the Shockers" and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will handle the play-by-play duties against the Wildcats, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcast as color commentator. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN+ ($). Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available for all games at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com.Â
SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Wildcats meet for the 99th time in program history on Tuesday, with the Shockers holding a 56-42 lead in the all-time series. Since restarting the baseball program in 1978, Wichita State has gone 53-30 against the Wildcats, though Kansas State claimed both meetings last season. The Wildcats got two excellent starts from German Fajardo, besting the Shockers 12-1 in Wichita and 3-1 in Manhattan. 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 eight straight games at Tointon Family Stadium since that win.
SCOUTING KANSAS STATE: The Wildcats are one of college baseball's most surprising stories in 2023, entering play on Tuesday with a 24-14 overall record and alone in second place in the Big 12 standings at 9-6. Kansas State was picked seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll after a 29-29 (8-16) season a year ago. The Wildcats are coming off a wild three-game sweep at Kansas over the weekend, the first for the program in Lawrence since 2013. Sunday's series finale was the highest-scoring game in the history of the rivalry, a 21-18 slugfest in which Kansas State banged out a season-best 19 hits. The Wildcats also drew 20 walks in the series, giving them a national-best 259 bases on balls for the season. Kansas State has swiped 88 bases, good for 10th in the country. Head coach Pete Hughes is in his fourth season at the helm of the Wildcats in 2023. The former Oklahoma skipper owns a career mark of 774-598-3, the most wins among active Big 12 coaches. Hughes and Kansas State are in search of their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2013 season.
INGRAM IN A GROOVE: Junior outfielder Chuck Ingram had perhaps the best the best three-game stretch of his collegiate career over the weekend against Tulane. The native of Kansas City went 10-for-14 (.714) against the Green Wave with six extra-base hits, including his first career multi-homer game in the nightcap of Friday's doubleheader and a career-high three doubles in Sunday's series finale win. Batting out of the leadoff spot, Ingram scored eight runs and drove in five, recording three, three and four hits in the three-game set.
STARTING WITH A BANG: Ingram also grabbed national headlines on Friday with a leadoff home run that traveled a Trackman-confirmed 501 feet, easily the longest by any Shocker this season. Video of the prodigious blast was shared on the NCAA Baseball Instagram account, and as of Monday night had accumulated more than 150,000 views. Ingram's homer was the first leadoff round-tripper for the Shockers since David VanVooren opened a game against Texas Tech with a solo shot on March 9, 2019.
DOUBLE UP: Head coach Loren Hibbs made no secret of his desire for the Shockers to hit more doubles in 2023, believing the stat represents a good offensive approach and aggressive baserunning. The Shockers have lived up to that expectation this season, leading the American Athletic Conference with 78 team two-baggers. WSU banged out a season-high seven doubles in Sunday's series finale, and have seven players with five or more for the season.
TOO LITTLE, TULANE: The Shockers continued a program trend of impressive comebacks against Tulane in the second game of Friday's doubleheader by erasing a four-run deficit in a 10-9 win. The three most recent rallies from a deficit of four or more runs have all come against Tulane; the Shockers came back from five down on May 14, 2022 to run-rule the Green Wave 18-8, and clawed back from six runs down in the ninth inning on April 5, 2019 in a 12-11, 10 inning win.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE: The Wichita State weekend rotation of Clark Candiotti, Payton Tolle and Grant Adler has been a hallmark of consistency this season, but the trio was largely roughed up over the course of three days in New Orleans. Candiotti and Tolle were each tagged for a career-high seven runs, while Adler gave up four (albeit just one earned). The three arms combined for just eight strikeouts in a combined 15.2 innings.
WALK IT OUT: The Shockers rewrote the record book several times in the nightcap of Friday's doubleheader against Tulane thanks to some Green Wave charity. In the eighth inning, the Shockers worked five walks against a pair of Tulane relievers, including four in a row during one stretch. It was the first time Wichita State has drawn five walks in one inning since a 2016 meeting with Nebraska. All told, the Shockers drew 10 walks in the game, including a career-high three by Jaden Gustafson.
WORKING HIS WAY BACK: While Wichita State has largely avoided the injury bug in 2023, the absence of infielder Sawyre Thornhill due to injury over the last month forced the Shockers to do some defensively shuffling. True freshman Jack Little, who was the Shockers opening day second baseman, moved to third base in Thornhill's absence, which lasted exactly one month (March 7-April 7).
OFF AND RUNNING: Wichita State stole just 36 bases in 57 attempts last season, an average of 0.6 swipes per contest. First-year head coach Loren Hibbs made it a point of emphasis for the Shockers to be more aggressive on the bases, and the numbers bear out that focus. In 2023, WSU is 55-for-73 in stolen base attempts through 35 games (1.6 per game), and have improved their success rate from 63.1% to 75.3%. The Shockers have stolen 35 bases over the last 15 games, highlighted by a season-high six against Cincinnati on April 2.
