Oral Roberts (12-23-1, 4-10-1 Summit) vs. Wichita State (21-16, 7-5 American)

Wednesday, April 17 | 6:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Ryan Carmack (1-3, 6.57) vs. RHP Caleb Anderson (1-1, 5.16)

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SCENE SETTER: Wichita State looks to build off a weekend series win against Florida Atlantic with their final home midweek game of the season on Wednesday night against Oral Roberts. The Shockers dropped the series opener against FAU to extend their losing streak to six games but bounced back with five-run victories on Saturday and Sunday. WSU is 15-6 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 on Wednesday. The game 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 at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday represents the 75th all-time meeting between the Shockers and Golden Eagles, with Wichita State holding a 40-34 lead in the series. 11 of the last 13 meetings between the two teams have been decided by three runs or less. WSU is taking aim at their first season sweep against Oral Roberts since the 2019 season (8-2 win in Wichita, 4-2 win in Tulsa). The Shockers held on for a 3-1 win on February 28th in Tulsa, getting five innings of one-hit, shutout relief from Tyler Dobbs to claim the victory. Nate Adler worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth. WSU and ORU have also met seven times in NCAA tournament play, with the Golden Eagles holding a 4-3 edge in postseason contests.

SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS: The Golden Eagles enter play on Wednesday at 12-23-1 overall and 4-10-1 in the Summit League following a three-game sweep at the hands of St. Thomas over the weekend. Oral Roberts is slashing .266/.362/.376, all marks that rank 200th or worse at the D1 level. Former Wichita State shortstop David Herring has started 34 games and is hitting .218, and Easton Elliot, the son of former Shocker Terry Elliot and brother of former Shocker Cooper Elliot, is hitting .257 in nine starts. The Golden Eagles are coming off a historic 2023 season that ended in the College World Series. ORU set a D1 program record with 52 wins, claiming the Stillwater Regional and Eugene Super Regional on their way to Omaha for the second CWS appearance in program history. Head coach Ryan Folmar was named NCBWA National Coach of the Year and owns a career record of 371-224 (.624) in his 12th season with the Golden Eagles.

TWO-OUT RESURRECTION: After Wichita State produced just four two-out RBI over the course of their six-game losing streak, the Shockers returned to form with a pair of huge two-out performances over the final two games of the Florida Atlantic series. WSU knocked in four on Saturday and seven more on Sunday, highlighted by a two-out grand slam from Derek Williams.

MUNZ EMERGENCE: For much of the season, Wichita State's primary bullpen options have been Hunter Holmes (22 appearances, 1st nationally), Caleb Anderson (20 appearances, 6th nationally) and Nate Adler (five saves). The mid-season emergence of right-hander Mason Munz has added a valuable arm to the mix; Munz made a pair of scoreless appearances against FAU over the weekend and has allowed just two hits in 8.0 total innings for the season. Last Tuesday night against Oklahoma State, Munz struck out a season-high six batters over 2.2 shutout frames, holding the Cowboys without a hit.

LEAVING THEM LOADED: The Shockers escaped Sunday's series finale with a 10-5 win thanks in large part to the pitching staff's ability to navigate high-leverage situations. Starter Tyler Dobbs worked out of two bases-loaded situations in his five innings and relievers Mason Munz and Hunter Holmes each did the same later in the contest. FAU stranded 16 runners for the game, the most by any Shocker opponent this season.

RBI MACHINE: Senior outfielder Seth Stroh continues to put together a unique season at the plate, leading the Shockers with 31 RBI despite having only 85 at-bats. On Sunday against Florida Atlantic, he finished 3-for-4 with a single, a two-run double and a solo home run, giving him six for the season to match a career high. Of Stroh's 21 hits for the season, only seven of them have not driven in a run.

BECAUSE HE GETS ON BASE: Another odd offensive season belongs to sophomore catcher Alex Birge, who is hitting just .163 (7-for-43) but ranks among the team leaders with a .379 on-base percentage thanks to 10 walks and five hit by pitches. Birge put together perhaps the best offensive game of his career on Saturday against Florida Atlantic, reaching base five times on two singles, two walks and a hit by pitch.

ALL ABOARD THE LANE TRAIN: Freshman outfielder Lane Haworth has been a spark plug since his insertion into the starting lineup, going 16-for-40 (.400) in 10 starts. On Saturday against Florida Atlantic he finished 0-for-4 but still drove in a career-high three runs and scored two of his own.

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 fifth nationally with 84 hit by pitches; Jordan Rogers (17), Mauricio Millan (14) and Derek Williams rank 1-2-3 on the conference leaderboard. Rogers is eighth in the nation individually and has moved into fourth in program history with 30 career HBP.

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 seven starts totaling 36.1 innings, LaPour has allowed just six earned runs for a 1.47 ERA. The righty has struck out 46 and walked 15 over that time frame and has allowed more than five hits in just one start.

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.

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 270-217-1, good for a .554 winning percentage.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,331 wins, 1,264 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.