Wichita State (12-23, 4-8 American) at Kansas (27-10, 9-6 Big 12)

Tuesday, April 15 | 6:00 pm CT | Lawrence, Kansas (Hoglund Ballpark)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Colton Vercoe (0-0, 3.65) vs. RHP Malakai Vetock (2-0, 3.52)

---

SCENE SETTER: Wichita State looks to return to winning ways with an in-state midweek road trip to Kansas on Tuesday night. The Shockers were swept this past weekend by conference leaders UTSA, the first time Wichita State has suffered a home sweep since UCF took three straight from the Shockers in April of 2022. Wichita State has just one midweek win in seven tries this season, a run-rule victory over Newman on April 8. 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 of the series against Kansas, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcast 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 Jayhawks have met 89 times, with Wichita State holding 52-37 lead in the all-time series. The two teams split the season series last season, as both home teams came away with victories. The Shockers picked up a 7-6, walk-off win against the Jayhawks on April 3; Seth Stroh and Camden Johnson hit eighth inning solo homers to erase a late deficit and Mauricio Millan provided the heroics with a walk-off single in the ninth. The Jayhawks rolled to an 8-1 win on May 1, holding WSU to just three hits. From 2013-2016, Kansas won seven consecutive games in the series and Wichita State put together a six-game winning streak from 2017-2022.

SCOUTING KANSAS: The Jayhawks are in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history, entering play on Tuesday with a 27-10 record and 9-6 mark in Big 12 play. Kansas has dropped four consecutive games, falling last Tuesday at home to Nebraska before suffering a road sweep at the hands of TCU over the weekend. An offense built around power and patience ranks fifth nationally in walks (244) and sixth in home runs (76). Minnesota State Mankato transfer Jackson Hauge leads the way with 15 homers and 51 RBI. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald is in his third season with the Jayhawks and previously spent nine seasons as an assistant at Dallas Baptist, a former Missouri Valley Conference foe. Former Wichita State volunteer assistant coach Jon Coyne is a member of Fitzgerald's staff.

HOME COOKING: Wichita State has been a significantly better offensive team at the friendly confines of Eck Stadium in 2025. The Shockers are slashing .295/.398/.450 in 17 home games but just .225/.330/.347 in 17 road contests. Most notably, WSU's strikeout rate at home (19.4% of at-bats) is nearly eight full percentage points better than the same figure on the road (27.1%).

BACK-TO-BACK BLASTS: Kam Durnin and Lane Haworth became the first Shocker tandem to hit consecutive home runs in 2025, launching back-to-back bombs in the sixth inning of Saturday's loss to UTSA. That Saturday contest was also the first time this season Wichita State has connected for more than two home runs in a game, all three of which came from the sixth inning on.

COOLING OFF: Two of Wichita State's hottest hitters found their recent surge blunted in the series against UTSA. Junior Jaden Gustafson had been hitting .429 in his previous 14 games (18-for-42) but went just 1-for-11 in the series and sophomore Gannon Snyder's .346 clip in the same 14 games was snuffed out by an 0-for-11 showing.

NO RUNNING: For the second consecutive weekend series, Wichita State did not attempt a stolen base. The Shockers are just 19-for-25 in stolen base attempts this season, ranking 286th out of 299 teams nationally in stolen base attempts per game (0.54).

KEEP IT CLEAN: Wichita State has put together their best run of defensive baseball over the last two weeks of the season. The Shockers have committed just four errors in the last seven games, two of which were errant pickoff attempts from pitchers. Prior to this stretch of slick fielding, WSU had 10 games this season with multiple errors.

FREE PASSES: Wichita State pitchers walked 20 batters over the three games against UTSA (7, 7, 6), marking the the 10th time this season WSU has walked seven or more. The Shockers rank last in the American Athletic Conference with 5.54 walks per nine innings and have hit 59 batters, also most in the conference.

BASES LOADED BLUES: This season with the bases loaded Wichita State has recorded just nine hits (three for extra bases) in 51 at-bats, good for a .176 average. The Shockers have more double plays grounded into (11) than hits in bases loaded situations.

TRIPLE THREAT: The Shockers have hit 11 triples this season, ranking 38th 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.

SMALL BALL: With just 20 home runs through the first 35 games of the season, Brian Green has turned to the small ball approach more consistently in an attempt to generate offense. The Shockers rank 43rd nationally with 22 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 22 hits in 49 at-bats for a staggering .449 average, while hitting a more modest .293 against righties. 

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 69 times this season, including 12 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 2,354 wins, 1,300 losses and nine ties, Wichita State ranks in the top ten of all college baseball programs with a .643 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.