Wichita State (3-8, 0-0 American) vs. Abilene Christian (7-5, 0-0 WAC)

Wednesday, March 5 | 6:00 pm CT | Arlington, Texas (Globe Life Field)
TV: None | Radio: KNSS 98.7 FM/1330 AM
LHP Arnad Mulamekic (0-1, 2.25) vs. LHP Chandler Benson (0-1, 4.50)

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SCENE SETTER: Wichita State heads to Arlington, Texas to take part in the 2025 Globe Life Field College Baseball Series, taking on Abilene Christian on Wednesday at the home of the Texas Rangers. WSU is looking to shake off a slow start to the 2025 season that has left the Shockers with a 3-8 overall record and series losses in all three weekend series (McNeese, Hawaii, Cal State Fullerton). This will be the second midweek game of the season for Wichita State, following a loss to Chaminade that concluded WSU's trip to Hawaii. The Shockers are coming off a 32-29 season in 2024 that included a 15-12 mark in American Athletic Conference play, tying for third in the final conference standings. WSU went on to reach the championship game of the AAC Tournament for the first time in program history, falling to Tulane, 11-10. 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 2025. Wednesday's game will air on KNSS 98.7 FM/1330 AM due to scheduling overlap. Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Shane Dennis will have the call, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcast as color commentator. There is no video stream of Wednesday's game. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: Wichita State and Abilene Christian have only two previous meetings, a 1978 doubleheader in WSU's first season after the re-institution of the baseball program. The Shockers won both games in Abilene, 18-2 and 11-4.

SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN: The Wildcats bring a 7-5 record into Wednesday's contest after sweeping a four-game series against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. ACU also owns a series win over Youngstown State and a season-opening victory against Illinois to go against five defeats. Abilene Christian was picked second in the WAC Preseason Poll after finishing 33-25 in 2024, tying for second place in the WAC regular season standings. Left-hander Brett Lanman is the conference's preseason pitcher of the year and second baseman Ben Green joined him on the preseason All-WAC team. The Wildcats are built around speed and defense, ranking just outside the top 20 nationally with 28 stolen bases and top 50 nationally with a .979 fielding percentage. Head coach Rick McCarty is in his seventh season at the helm, bringing a career record of 174-138 into play on Wednesday.

BIG LEAGUE DREAMS: Wednesday will be Wichita State's first game at Globe Life Field. The Shockers were scheduled to play Texas State at the ballpark in 2022, but the game was moved to San Marcos due to an ice storm in the DFW area. The Shockers most recently played in a Major League Baseball stadium in 2014, when they battled Missouri at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The Shockers are taking part in the last of four midweek contests scheduled at Globe Life Field in 2025, following Texas State and Oklahoma State on February 18, Oklahoma and UT Arlington on February 19, and LSU and Dallas Baptist on February 26.

HOME(R) OPENER: It was a memorable home opener for Wichita State, as sophomore outfielder Lane Haworth launched a two-out, two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Wichita State to a 5-4 win over Cal State Fullerton on Friday evening at Eck Stadium. Haworth's blast was the first walk-off home run for Wichita State since Garrett Kocis connected for a two-run shot against Kansas on March 23, 2022.

CROWDER TRIO: The backend of the Wichita State bullpen features three hard-throwing right-handers from Crowder College who are all off to strong starts in 2025. The combination of Karsen Richard, Aaron Arnold and Nick Potter has totaled 14.0 innings and allowed just four earned runs while striking out 19 and allowing only nine hits.

NEW NAME, NEW PERKS: Friday marked the first game under the enhanced naming at Eck Stadium, now known officially as Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park. What was originally known as Shocker Field when the baseball program was reinstituted in the 1978 season, Eck has undergone several major renovations to reach its current form. This past offseason, the facility added new state-of-the-art lights, mesh chairback seats behind home plate and loge boxes down the first base line. The program also announced the forthcoming addition of the Kosich Pavilion, a two-tiered seating area located beyond the left field fence.

ESTABLISH THE RUN: After nine consecutive games without a stolen base to open the season, Wichita State finally got off the schneid with Kam Durnin's successful swipe of third base on Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. Jordan Rogers added another steal on Sunday, but the Shockers still rank in the bottom-10 nationally in stolen bases per game (0.18).

POWER OF THE PLUNK: Wichita State shattered the program record for hit by pitches in 2024, drawing 116 HBPs to best the previous mark (84 in 2019) by 32. The Shockers have already been hit 22 times this season, but were hit just once in the Cal State Fullerton Series. WSU finished 16th nationally in team HBPs last season, led by Mauricio Millan's new program and conference record 24.

PRESEASON PUB: Wichita State was picked second in the 2025 American Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll, the highest preseason projection for the Shockers since joining the conference in 2017. The Shockers had never been picked higher than fourth in the American preseason poll, a status they reached just once in the 2022 edition. WSU also matched Tulane for the most representatives on the Preseason All-Conference Team; catcher Mauricio Millan, first baseman Josh Livingston, second baseman Jordan Rogers and shortstop Camden Johnson were all recognized by the conference, with Millan as the unanimous selection behind the plate.

GETTING THE GANG BACK TOGETHER: Wichita State returned just 11 total players to their 2024 roster following the coaching change that brought Brian Green to Wichita, but this season the Shockers enter the year with significantly more experience. On the position player front, WSU returns nine players who started 10 or more games, while the pitching staff features nine hurlers who appeared in eight or more contests.

PORTAL POWER: Wichita State turned to the portal for seven D1 transfers: Grant Adler (Kansas), Cole Dillon (Arizona), Jace Miner (Oklahoma), Arnad Mulamekic (Siena), Owen Reynolds (Oral Roberts), MJ Seo (LSU) and Owen Washburn (Texas Tech). Adler and Miner both began their D1 careers at Wichita State before transferring during the coaching change, with Adler named the AAC Newcomer Pitcher of the Year in 2023 and Miner earning Second Team All-Conference honors as a reliever.

CLAGGETT PROMOTION: Following the 2024 season, head coach Brian Green promoted pitching coach Anthony Claggett to assistant head coach in addition to his pitching coach duties. Working with a pitching staff that returned just four pitchers and 71.1 total innings from the year prior, Claggett guided the Wichita State arms to a 5.07 ERA in 2024 that ranked second in the American Athletic Conference and finished top three in hits allowed per nine innings (8.73) and WHIP (1.49).

UPS AND DOWNS: The 2024 season was a true roller coaster ride for Wichita State. The Shockers entered the month of April at 18-9 following a three-game sweep of Rice, but had a miserable month that threatened to derail the season. WSU went 4-17 in their next 21 games, suffering a pair of conference sweeps at the hands of South Florida and East Carolina. But the Shockers righted the ship in May, winning a season-best seven games in a row from May 4-17 and reaching the championship game of the American Athletic Conference tournament with the help of two wins over top-seeded East Carolina.

IT'S GONNA BE MAY: The star of Wichita State's late season surge was infielder Josh Livingston, who put together one of the most impressive months in recent program history to buoy the Shockers. Livingston went 11-for-33 in the month of May with three doubles, six home runs and 23 RBI in just nine games, highlighted by a two-homer, seven-RBI game in the AAC tournament semifinals against East Carolina. The junior college transfer became the first player in program history with three pinch-hit homers in the same season and the first with a pinch-hit grand slam since Zach Reding in 2016.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,345 wins, 1,285 losses and nine ties, Wichita State ranks in the top ten of all college baseball programs with a .645 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.