Florida Atlantic (18-12, 5-4 American) vs. Wichita State (19-15, 5-4 American)

Friday, April 12 | 6:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP C.J. Williams (4-2, 3.33) vs. LHP Caden Favors (5-2, 3.29)

Saturday, April 13 | 2:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Tyler Murphy (3-0, 3.44) vs. RHP Tommy LaPour (3-1, 3.82)

Sunday, April 14 | 1:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
LHP Trey Beard (2-2, 4.94) vs. TBA

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SCENE SETTER: Wichita State looks to snap a five-game losing skid as the Shockers return to Eck Stadium and American Athletic Conference play with a three-game series against conference newcomer Florida Atlantic. WSU carried a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning of Wednesday's road contest against Kansas State, but the Wildcats scored four times in the inning for a 6-3 win. Combined with Tuesday's loss to Oklahoma State at Riverfront Stadium and a three-game sweep at South Florida, Wichita State has dropped five straight away from home turf. WSU is 13-5 at Eck Stadium this season and 6-10 in road/neutral games. 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. 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. "The Voice of the Shockers" and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will have the call for all three games of the series. The series will also be streamed live on ESPN+, with former Shocker pitcher (1991-94) and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Shane Dennis handling play-by-play duties. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available for both games at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Owls have never met on the diamond.

SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC: The Owls bring a record of 18-12 into play on Friday after suffering a 14-6 loss on the road at Miami on Tuesday night. Like Wichita State, Florida Atlantic owns a 5-4 conference record, with series wins against Charlotte and Memphis and a series loss against East Carolina. The Owls are 15-6 at home this season and 3-6 away from Boca Raton. The Owls are led by two talented weekend starters in C.J. Williams (4-2, 3.33) and Tyler Murphy (3-0, 3.44) in addition to stellar relief work from Kansas native Danny Trehey (0.72 ERA, 37 strikeouts in 25.0 IP). The Owls are slashing .259/.374/.405 as a team and do not have a player hitting over .300 or with more than five home runs. Head coach John McCormack is in his 16th season at the helm of the Owls and 34th on the staff after stints as an assistant and associate head coach. He has led FAU to six NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2019.

RISP WATCH: One of the largest contributing factors to Wichita State's five-game skid has been struggles in situations with runners in scoring position. Over the last five contests, the Shockers are hitting just .197 (12-for-61) in RISP opportunities and have recorded only four two-out RBI. Opponents are hitting .290 (18-for-62) in those same chances with 13 two-out RBI. Additionally, WSU has converted just 5 of 13 RBI opportunities with a runner at third and less than two outs.

MOUNT UP: Right-hander Jack Mount has quietly developed into one of Wichita State's most consistent bullpen options, logging another 2.1 scoreless innings on Wednesday night at Kansas State. Dating back to March 22, Mount is working on a stretch of 7.2 innings without allowing a run, a performance that has lowered his season ERA to its present 3.18.

T-BIRDS UNITE: Mount's teammate at Cloud County Community College, reliever Mason Munz, has also shined in recent relief work. On Tuesday night against Oklahoma State, Munz struck out a season-high six batters over 2.2 shutout frames, holding the Cowboys without a hit. The six strikeouts were more than Munz recorded in his previous four appearances combined.

ALL ABOARD THE LANE TRAIN: Freshman outfielder Lane Haworth has been a spark plug since his insertion into the starting lineup, going 13-for-29 in six starts. Dating back to the weekend series against South Florida, Haworth is 9 for his last 16 including three-hit games against the Bulls on Saturday and Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

TOMMY GUN: Few pitchers in the country have put together a better stretch of starts than freshman right-hander Tommy LaPour, who has shaken off two rough starts to become one of the Shockers most consistent arms. Over his last six starts totaling 31.1 innings, LaPour has allowed just five earned runs for a 1.43 ERA. The righty has struck out 41 and walked 12 over that time frame and has not given up a home run in his last four starts.

FREE PASS DRY SPELL: In the first weekend of the season, Wichita State drew a combined 24 walks in three games against Little Rock. That represents nearly a quarter of the team total through 34 games of the season, as the Shockers have worked just 89 walks in the other 31 contests (2.9 per game). That figure has dropped off even more dramatically in recent weeks, with 16 walks drawn over the last nine games.

WALK IT OFF: Mauricio Millan's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth against Kansas delivered the first walk-off win of the season for Wichita State. The Shockers did not have a true walk-off win (not counting run-rule victories) in the entirety of the 2023 season, and their last such victory also came against Kansas when Garrett Kocis blasted a walk-off, two-run homer on March 23, 2022.

POWER OF THE PLUNK: Wichita State tied a program record for hit by pitches twice in the Rice series, earning six HBPs on both Thursday and Saturday. The Shockers lead the conference and rank seventh nationally with 77 hit by pitches; Jordan Rogers (16), Derek Williams (13) and Mauricio Millan (13) rank 1-2-3 on the conference leaderboard.

BUSY MEN: Wichita State relievers Caleb Anderson and Hunter Holmes have worn out a path from the bullpen to the mound this season, logging 19 appearances apiece to tie for third nationally. Wichita State and Loyola Marymount are the only two programs with multiple players who rank in the top five.

PINCH-HIT POP: Coming into the 2024 season, WSU had not had a pinch-hit home run since Mason O'Brien came off the bench and homered against South Florida on May 11, 2018. Junior Josh Livingston accomplished the feat twice in the first 11 games of 2024, cranking a three-run shot against Iowa on February 25 and replicating the achievement with a solo blast against Oklahoma on March 5.

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 10 total seasons as a head coach, Green owns a career record of 268-216-1, good for a .555 winning percentage.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,329 wins, 1,263 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.