Wichita State (0-0, 0-0 American) vs. Little Rock (0-0, 0-0 Ohio Valley)
Friday, February 16Â | 12:00Â pm CT | Little Rock, Arkansas (Gary Hogan Field)
TV: ESPN+Â | Radio:Â KFH 97.5Â FM/1240Â AM
LHP Caden Favors (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Jackson Wells (0-0, 0.00)
Saturday, February 17Â | 2:00Â pm CT | Little Rock, Arkansas (Gary Hogan Field)
TV: ESPN+Â | Radio:Â KNSS 98.7Â FM/1330Â AM
RHP Daniel Zang (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Hoss Brewer (0-0, 0.00)
Sunday, February 18Â | 1:00Â pm CT | Little Rock, Arkansas (Gary Hogan Field)
TV: ESPN+Â | Radio:Â KFH 97.5Â FM/1240Â AM
RHP Tommy LaPour (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Zack Busick (0-0, 0.00)
SCENE SETTER: Wichita State opens the 2024 season and the Brian Green era with a three-game series on the road against the Little Rock Trojans in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Shockers are coming off a 30-25 season in 2023 that included a 13-10 mark in American Athletic Conference play, good for third place in the final conference standings. WSU is on the road for the first seven contests of 2024, following the trip to Little Rock with three games at the Jax College Baseball Classic in Florida and a midweek game against Oral Roberts in Tulsa. Wichita State is hunting 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 Wichita State baseball broadcasts in 2024. Saturday's game will air on KNSS 98.7 FM/1330 AM. Denning Gerig will have the call for all three games in Little Rock. All games of the series 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 Trojans have met just four times in program history, with Wichita State leading the series 4-0. WSU opened the 1997 season with two games in Wichita against the Trojans, sweeping the set by scores of 4-2 and 16-1. The final matchup occurred under bizarre circumstances, taking place on February 28, 2013 as part of a series of games that was thrown together when winter weather wreaked havoc on the midwest. The Shockers had eight straight games canceled due to snow, eventually making their way to Little Rock and Conway, Arkansas to play Western Illinois, Central Arkansas, New Orleans and Iowa. In the first game of the mix-and-match series, Wichita State defeated Little Rock 9-5, securing the 1800th win for legendary head coach Gene Stephenson. Future big leaguer AJ Ladwig earned the win and future first round draft pick Casey Gillaspie homered in the victory for Wichita State.
SCOUTING LITTLE ROCK: The Trojans are coming off a 31-23 season in 2023, finishing second in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 14-8 record. Little Rock is the OVC preseason favorite and placed four players on the conference's preseason All-OVC team. The Trojans were at their best at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, going 22-8 at home overall and 11-1 in conference home games. Little Rock returns every meaningful contributor from a year ago, highlighted by the nation's ERA leader in Jackson Wells. The rising junior right-hander was named the OVC Pitcher of the Year and an NCBWA All-American in 2023, finishing 7-4 with a 1.65 ERA in 93.0 innings. First Team All-Conference honorees Nico Baumbach (.372, 14 HR, 52 RBI), Skyler Trevino (.297, 15 HR, 46 RBI), and Tyler Williams (.363, 9 HR, 42 RBI, 23 SB) headline the returning position players from an offense that led the OVC with a .299 team batting average. Head coach Chris Curry begins his 10th season at the helm of the Trojans, entering the 2024 campaign with a 205-239 mark (.462).
GREENER PASTURES: Brian Green was named the fifth head coach in the modern era of Wichita State baseball on June 5, 2023, replacing interim head coach Loren Hibbs. Green comes to Wichita State after four seasons at the helm of Washington State, where he guided the Cougars to four straight seasons above .500, the first such stretch of success for the Cougars since 2006-10. Green went 91-79 overall in Pullman, including a 29-win season in 2023 that matched the most wins for Washington State since 2010. Prior to his tenure with Wazzu, Green revitalized the program at his alma mater New Mexico State, taking the Aggies from 11 wins in 2015 to 40 in 2018. In nine total seasons as a head coach, Green owns a career record of 249-201-1, good for a .553 winning percentage.
ROSTER REVAMP: It will be a new-look Wichita State roster in 2024, as only 11 players return from the 2023 club. AAC Player of the Year Brock Rodden was drafted in the 5th Round by the Seattle Mariners, senior Sawyre Thornhill exhausted his eligibility, and the remaining 23 players transferred. 17 of those 23 ended up at another Division I institution. Catcher Mauricio Millan (54 starts), outfielder Seth Stroh (32 starts) and utilitymen Jordan Rogers (10 starts) and Will Stark (10 starts in 2022) lead the returners in experience, while Caden Favors (21 appearances) and Matt Wilkinson (18 appearances) are the senior members of the pitching staff.
JUCO BANDITS: Following the 25 departures from the 2023 club, head coach Brian Green turned to the junior college ranks to form his first roster with the Shockers. Wichita State has 14 newcomers who played at the NJCAA level a year ago: pitchers Mason Munz, Gavin Oswald, Caleb Anderson, Daniel Zang, Hunter Holmes, Peyton Walters and Jack Mount (7) and position players Brayden Luikart, Dayvin Johnson, Logan Kreske, Ryan Callahan, Derek Williams, Josh Livingston and Sammy Harris (7). The roster also features a pair of four-year transfers: Eric Fettinger (Western Illinois, D1) and Ronald Zayas (Middle George State, NAIA).
IRON MAN: On a roster with so much turnover, the steadying presence of catcher Mauricio Millan will be an important one for the Shockers on both sides of the ball. Millan started an incredible 53 games at catcher for WSU in 2023, hitting .315 with 15 doubles and 26 RBI to go along with excellent defense. The junior from El Paso, Texas ranked among the nation's leaders in framing pitches and committed just three errors behind the plate.
HISTORY BREAKERS: The Shockers will look to reverse a recent trend of opening day struggles this weekend in Little Rock. Wichita State has dropped their last five opening day contests (2023 - at Long Beach State, 2022 at Louisiana Tech, 2021 vs. Oklahoma State, 2020 at Northwestern State, 2019 at Grand Canyon), four of which have come on the road. The Shockers last win in game one came in 2018, when WSU downed McNeese State as part of a three-game sweep.
SOUTHPAW SWISS ARMY KNIFE: Senior Caden Favors has handled nearly every role possible on the Wichita State pitching staff in his two seasons as a Shocker, ranging from starter to long reliever to closer. He begins the 2024 campaign as Wichita State's Friday starter following a 2023 season in which he went 3-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 21 appearances, three of which were starts. For his career, the southpaw has nine starts among his 44 total outings, toting a 5-5 record and 3.38 ERA.Â
BRIGHT FUTURE: Green was hard at work on the recruiting trail after taking the reigns, bringing in a class ranked 32nd nationally by Perfect Game. In addition to keeping nearly the entirety of the previous staff's class in place, Green was able to add two top-400 players nationally in shortstop Darnell Parker Jr. (#311, originally committed to Washington State) and right-handed pitcher Tommy LaPour (#388, originally committed to Cincinnati). The highest ranked player in the class is right-handed pitcher Ryan Geraghty, ranked by PG as the #165 player in the country.
MEET THE STAFF: Green wasted little time finalizing his assistant coaches, announcing the hires just two weeks after joining the Shockers. Veteran pitching coach Anthony Claggett came along from Washington State, recruiting coordinator Clay Overcash was brought on board after six seasons in the same role at Oklahoma, and hitting coach Anthony Miller, who as a player was committed to play for Green at NMSU, rounded out the assistants following four seasons at the junior college level. The Shockers director of baseball operations is Tad Reida, a former Shocker infielder who helped Wichita State to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in 2004 and 2005.
GONE PROSPECTING: Wichita State was well represented on D1Baseball's Top Prospect rankings of the American Athletic Conference. Senior left-handed pitcher Caden Favors (#12), junior catcher Mauricio Millan (#23) and junior left-handed pitcher Hunter Holmes (#39) cracked the list among 2024 prospects, with sophomore righty Daniel Zang (#5) on the 2025 leaderboard. The Shockers made the most noise among Impact Freshman, with Tommy LaPour (#2), Ryan Geraghty (#5), Darnell Parker Jr. (#8) and Kam Durnin (#25) all earning recognition.
PRESEASON PROJECTION: The Shockers were picked seventh in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll out of 10 teams, the lowest preseason projection for Wichita State since joining the AAC in 2017. The conference features new blood in Charlotte, UTSA, Florida Atlantic, Rice and UAB, helping to offset the losses of Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12. Defending champion East Carolina comfortably topped the poll, earning all nine other first place votes. The Pirates lead the conference with six preseason All-AAC selections, including the preseason Pitcher of the Year in Trey Yesavage. South Florida has five representatives; no other school has more than one.Â
TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,310 wins, 1,248 losses and nine ties, Wichita State ranks in the top ten of all college baseball programs with a .648 winning percentage. The Shockers have won 20 regular season conference championships and 18 conference tournament championships, earning a trip to Omaha for the College World Series on seven different occasions. WSU claimed the 1989 national championship and finished as national runner-up in 1982, 1991 and 1993.