Wichita State (10-17, 3-3 American) vs. #22 Kansas State (19-8, 8-1 Big 12)

Wednesday, April 2 | 6:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Jeremiah Arnett (0-1, 6.75) vs. RHP Tanner Duke (0-1, 8.38)

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SCENE SETTER: Wichita State hosts their first home midweek game of the season on Wednesday night, welcoming in #22 Kansas State for a 6:00 pm first pitch. The Wildcats are new additions to the D1Baseball Top 25 and will be the first ranked opponent for Wichita State this season. WSU took two of three games against UAB over the weekend, including an 11-1 run-rule win on Friday night. 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. "The Voice of the Shockers" Mike Kennedy will have the call on Wednesday. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+ ($), with Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Shane Dennis on play-by-play and former Shocker outfielder Corrigan Bartlett as color commentator. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Wildcats meet for the 105th time in program history on Wednesday, with the Shockers holding a 58-46 lead in the all-time series. Since restarting the baseball program in 1978, Wichita State has gone 55-34 against the Wildcats. The Shockers squandered two leads in last season's meetings; Kansas State defeated WSU 8-6 on March 19 at Eck Stadium, erasing an early 4-0 deficit with the help of a six-run sixth inning and then overcame a 3-0 deficit with a four-run eighth in Manhattan on April 10. The last NCAA postseason appearance for Wichita State came in Kansas State's regional back in 2013.

SCOUTING KANSAS STATE: The Wildcats bring a 19-8 record to Wichita following a series sweep of Texas Tech over the weekend. Kansas State holds the top spot in the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 record, representing the best conference start in program history. The Wildcats have been unbeatable at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, with a 10-0 home record compared to 9-8 in road/neutral games. A powerful lineup ranks second in the Big 12 with 49 home runs (15th nationally) and with a .526 slugging percentage (29th nationally). Head coach Pete Hughes is in his seventh season at Kansas State and 28th overall, totaling a career record of 839-642-3 (.566).

GANNON GETS GOING: After a slow start to the season in which he went 3-for-17 and started only three of the first 18 games, sophomore Gannon Snyder has surged into a regular role thanks to a recent hot stretch. Snyder is 12-for-33 over his last nine games (.364) and has worked seven walks after walking just once in his first 13 contests.

WE HAVE CONTACT: Wichita State struck out just 16 total times over the course of the three-game series against UAB (7, 5, 4), the lowest strikeout total in any series this season for the Shockers and the lowest in a conference series since May 6-8, 2022 against Houston (15 combined strikeouts, 3, 7, 5). WSU struck out 28 times in the previous weekend series against Tulane.

FREE PASSES: Wichita State pitchers handed out eight walks in Sunday's loss vs. UAB, the third time this season WSU has walked eight or more (17 vs. Louisiana Tech on March 14, 10 at Oklahoma State on March 25). The Shockers rank last in the American Athletic Conference with 5.38 walks per nine innings and have hit a conference-high 50 batters.

STREAK SNAPPED: Wichita State had successfully stolen 17 consecutive bases from March 1-29 before Kaleb Duncan was thrown out attempting to steal second in the fourth inning of Sunday's loss to UAB.

BASES LOADED BLUES: This season with the bases loaded Wichita State has recorded just eight hits (three for extra bases) in 42 at-bats, good for a .190 average. The Shockers have hit into more double plays (9) than have hits (8) in bases loaded situations.

TRIPLE THREAT: The Shockers have hit 11 triples this season, ranking 17th nationally and nearly twice as many as the next closest team in the American Athletic Conference (Tulane, 6). Wichita State hit three triples in the UAB series, capped off by the first of Mauricio Millan's career in the Sunday series finale.

GIVE HIM A MULLIGAN: Friday night starter Grant Adler enters the Charlotte series with a somewhat pedestrian season ERA of 5.22 through seven starts. The overall numbers are largely skewed by an outing against Louisiana Tech in which wind gusts of nearly 50 miles per hour produced a 27-12 game and 12 earned runs on Adler's line. With the exception of that start, the righty has pitched to a 2.68 ERA and has logged three outings of seven innings and three runs or less.

SMALL BALL: With just 13 home runs through the first 27 games of the season, Brian Green has turned to the small ball approach more consistently in an attempt to generate offense. The Shockers rank 18th nationally with 21 sacrifice bunts this season and had five in the UAB series. Wichita State had 30 sacrifice bunts last season.

REVERSE SPLITS: Sophomore infielder Camden Johnson has defied all the conventional wisdom of left-on-left matchups so far this season. When facing same-side pitching, Johnson has 20 hits in 38 at-bats for a staggering .526 average, while hitting a more modest .265 against righties. 

NEW NAME, NEW PERKS: February 28 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.

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 58 times this season, including 10 games with three HBPs or more. 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.

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.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,352 wins, 1,294 losses and nine ties, Wichita State ranks in the top ten of all college baseball programs with a .644 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.