Wichita State (10-10, 1-2 AAC) at East Carolina (21-5, 0-3 AAC)
Friday, March 15 | 4:00 PM CT
Saturday, March 16 | 1:00 PM CT
Sunday, March 17 | 11:00 AM CT
Greenville, N.C. | Max R. Joyner Family Stadium
Video: ESPN+ (All Games)
Stats: Statbroadcast.com
 

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QUICK HITS
• Wichita State continues AAC play with a weekend series at East Carolina, March 15-17 on ESPN+.
• Wichita State went 1-2 on opening weekend of American Athletic Conference play against the Florida Atlantic Owls. The Owls scored 17 runs in the finale to win the series. The 17 runs were the second most allowed in school history.
• Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner won her 700th career game on March 9 vs. Florida Atlantic.
• Wichita State is 3-7 in its last 10 games.
• Wichita State's RPI is 33 as of March 11 and the Shockers have played the nation's 9th toughest schedule.
• The American Athletic Conference is rated the 6th best conference according to RPI behind only the SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten.
• Wichita State ranks 8th nationally in home runs per game and 31st in slugging percentage.
• Nearly half of Wichita State's games so far this season have come against ranked teams. They are 2-6 in those games.
• Wichita State has five wins against ranked opponents dating back to last season.
• The Shockers are 5-5 against SEC opponents over their last 10 games with wins over South Carolina, Arkansas and Texas A&M.
• CC Wong was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 26.
• Chloe Barber was named the D1 Softball National Freshman of the Week and American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27.
• Barber is coming off a record-setting weekend in Fayetteville. She tied the single game school record for strikeouts (15) at #15 Arkansas and then broke it two days later with 16 vs. Illinois State.
• Barber ranks 4th nationally in strikeouts per 7.0 innings and 36th in total strikeouts.
• Softball America named Addison Barnard a Preseason First Team All-American.
• Softball America tabbed Barnard as the No. 17 player on the Preseason Top 100 list and the No. 3 outfielder.
• Barnard is one of 50 on the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List.
• Barnard has 77 career home runs, the most all time at Wichita State and in American Athletic Conference history.
• Barnard became the 6th player in NCAA history with 70 career home runs and 50 career stolen bases, and is the only active DI player with 70+ HR and 60+ SB.
• Barnard ranks 3rd among NCAA DI active players in career home runs with 77, just four behind Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings and three behind Miami's Karli Spaid.
• Wichita State is the preseason favorite as voted on by the league's coaches in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Shockers received 8 first place votes and 80 total points. Charlotte and North Texas were picked No. 2 and No. 3.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA
Under third year head coach Shane Winkler, East Carolina is 21-5 to start the 2024 campaign. The Pirates had won 11 of their last 12 games until being swept by North Texas in the conference opener last weekend. ECU is off to one of its better starts in program history. Emma Jackson leads ECU at the plate, batting .489 and tallying 43 hits (1st in AAC/1st in NCAA) along with 19 doubles (1st in AAC/1st in NCAA). Jackson was recently named best outfielder in the country by D1Softball and the eighth-best outfielder in the country by Softball America for the month of March. Morgan Johnson leads the American and is ninth in the country in RBI with 32. ECU is currently first in the AAC in runs scored (167), hits (235), on-base percentage (.421) and doubles (57). The Pirates currently have three players who are hitting .400 or higher at the plate.

SERIES HISTORY
All but one meeting between Wichita State and East Carolina have taken place since the Shockers joined the American in 2018. The two programs first met back on March 20, 1999 on a neutral field. Wichita State has won seven straight meetings and leads the overall series, 14-3. The Shockers have also won four in a row and are 5-1 all-time in Greenville.

LAST MEETING VS. THE PIRATES
Wichita State swept the regular season series in Wichita in 2023. The Shockers held the Pirates to just two runs over the three-game series. Addison Barnard homered and drove in two runs in the 5-1 opener. In game 2, Wichita State shutout the Pirates, 4-0, behind a complete game shutout from Alex Aguilar in the circle. Zoe Jones and Sami Hood homered and Lauren Mills had a three-hit game. Wichita State picked up win No. 40 of the season and the series sweep on Sunday with a 7-1 win. Barnard and Sydney McKinney both had multiple hits and scored three times each.

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State dropped a midweek doubleheader at Kansas on Tuesday, falling 6-3 and 6-5 in eight innings. In the opener, the game was tied at 1-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, but the Jayhawks scored five times in the inning to break open a 6-1 lead. The Shockers would plate two in the top of the seventh but left the bases loaded to end the game. Wichita State had bases loaded three different innings, and only scored two runs out of those situations. In the nightcap, Kansas belted a first inning grand slam to take a 5-0 lead after one inning. It looked like the game might end early, but Alison Cooper came out of the bullpen and silenced the Jayhawks over the next 6.0 innings. CC Wong would drive in a run in the third and fifth innings on an RBI single and a solo home run. With the game heading to the seventh and KU still leading 5-2, Addison Barnard delivered a game-tying, three-run home run to send the game to extra innings. A single and a two-base throwing error in the bottom of the eighth led to a walk-off via obstruction at the plate.

KRYSTIN IS COOKIN'
Since the calendar turned to March, Krystin Nelson has been red-hot at the plate. The junior is hitting .500 (13-for-26) with three doubles, two home runs, six RBI and has scored eight runs. She started the season 1-for-26 (.038). She's tied her career high with three hits twice in the month of March alone.

SHOCKERS SELL OUT SEASON TICKETS
Four days before the home opener vs. Florida Atlantic on March 8, Wichita State announced it had sold out its season ticket allotment for the first time in school history.

RPI - WEEK TWO
Wichita State checked in at No. 33 in the second RPI rankings on March 11. The Shockers have already faced 8 teams in the Top 65, including No. 6 Missouri, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Clemson, No. 19 Auburn, No. 22 Arkansas (twice), No. 31 South Carolina, No. 44 Florida Atlantic (three times), No. 60 Nebraska (twice). The Shockers still have games against No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. No. 17 Charlotte (three times), No. 39 Kansas (twice), No. 49 South Florida (three times), No. 54 North Texas (three times) and No. 56 Tulsa (three times).

UP NEXT
Wichita State is back home at Wilkins Stadium next weekend to host UTSA, March 22-24.