Wichita State (20-34, 11-16 American) vs. Charlotte (35-20, 18-9 American)

Tuesday, May 20 | 3:00 pm CT | Clearwater, Fla. (BayCare Ballpark)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Grant Adler (5-5, 6.17) vs. RHP Blake Gillespie (6-4, 2.53)

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SCENE SETTER: #7-seed Wichita State opens the American Athletic Conference championship on Tuesday afternoon against #2-seed Charlotte, with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 pm CT. The Shockers needed at least a series win against Memphis to clinch a spot in the tournament and delivered their first series sweep of the season; that result, combined with Rice's sweep at the hands of UTSA, helped WSU leapfrog the Owls for to the #7 seed. The Shockers have won five consecutive games, a season high. Wichita State is 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 in Clearwater, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcasts as color commentator. All games of the tournament will be streamed on ESPN+ ($), with the championship game scheduled to air also on ESPN News. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and 49ers have played just seven times previously, a pair of three-game series this season and last, plus a single contest in 2002. WSU leads the series, 5-2. Charlotte won two of three meetings this season, sandwiching 7-1 and 5-4 wins around a 4-2 WSU victory. Both teams let a game get away in the series; the Saturday contest saw the Shockers down 2-1 with two outs in the ninth before Charlotte right fielder Noah Furcht misplayed Hunter Carlson's line drive to clear the bases and give WSU a 4-2 win. The next day, Wichita State allowed four runs in the bottom of the eighth to erase a 3-1 lead. Wichita State swept the 2024 set by scores of 2-1, 11-2 and 7-2 in the final home series of the season for the Shockers. Prior to last year the two teams have just one previous meeting, a 7-3 Wichita State victory that came in 2002 at the season-opening Coca-Cola Classic in Mobile, Alabama. Former Shockers Loren Hibbs and Greg Brummett were both on staff for Charlotte, with Hibbs as head coach and Brummett serving as his pitching coach.

SCOUTING CHARLOTTE: The 49ers enter play on Tuesday as the conference's hottest team, winning nine straight games to reach 35-20 overall and 18-9 in AAC play. They swept each of their final two conference series against UAB and Tulane, plus midweek wins over High Point and UNC Asheville. The Shockers will face the league's Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday, right-hander Blake Gillespie (6-4, 2.53 ERA), who has five double-digit strikeout games and a no-hitter on his resume this season. Offensively, Charlotte has five players with eight or more home runs, led by third baseman Dawson Bryce (.339, 13 HR, 50 RBI) and first baseman Cody Gunderson (.331, 8 HR, 30 RBI). Sixth-year head coach Robert Woodard brings a record of 180-133 (.575) into the tournament.

BULLPEN DEVELOPMENT: A Wichita State relief corps that combined for a 7.12 season ERA entering the Memphis set put together their best series of the season against the Tigers. Shocker relievers allowed just one earned run over the course of 12.0 total innings, striking out 16 in the process. The bullpen has allowed 37 home runs and 57 doubles in 243.1 innings this season, allowing opponents to hit .283.

OFFENSIVE BREAKOUT: Wichita State's season-best five-game winning streak has been keyed by an offensive surge in which the lineup is slashing a combined .327/.477/.503. The Shockers have piled up 49 runs in just 41 offensive innings, thanks in large part to 15 more walks and 19 fewer strikeouts than their opponents in that stretch. 

GOING STREAKING: The recent offensive outburst can be largely attributed to surges from Jaden Gustafson and Cole Dillon, the Shockers two hottest hitters over the last 10 games. Dillon put together a 13-game hitting streak that was snapped on Friday vs. Memphis, the longest by any Shocker this season, and has drawn 10 walks over his last five games. Gustafson posted a career-best six RBI in last Tuesday's win against Oral Roberts and has gone 18-for-34 on the heels of a 4-for-40 slump.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE: For much of the season, Wichita State has struggled mightily in high-leverage offensive situations, hitting just above .200 with both the bases loaded and with runners in scoring position and two outs. The Shockers have flipped the script recently, going 5-for-their last 8 with the bases loaded after starting the season 13-for-64 in those spots. WSU has racked up 18 two-out RBI in the last five games.

MR. 300: Wichita State head coach Brian Green earned his 300th career win with Friday's walk-off victory over Memphis. The second-year Shocker skipper picked up 158 of those wins over five seasons at New Mexico State, followed by 91 Ws in four seasons at Washington State. He owns a 52-63 mark with the Shockers.

RUN LIKE THE WIND: Wichita State entered the series against Memphis ranked 292nd out of 299 Division 1 teams in stolen bases per game (0.42). The Shockers ripped off seven stolen bases in the three games, 1/3 of their total for the entire season up to that point. The highlight came on Saturday when WSU went 5-for-5 on the basepaths, including three thefts from Camden Johnson in the first two innings. No single Shocker had stolen three bases in a game since Couper Cornblum in March of 2022.

YOU'RE A WIZARD, POTTER: WSU closer Nick Potter has put together his best stretch of the season over the last three weeks, combining for 10.1 consecutive scoreless innings over his last five appearances. The best outing of the stretch came on May 9 at Rice, when Potter worked a season-high 4.0 shutout innings and struck out a season-high six batters, allowing just one baserunner on a walk.

WALK-OFF WINNERS: Mauricio Millan clinched a spot for WSU in the AAC tournament on Friday night with a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning against Memphis. The Shockers logged five walk-off wins this season: Lane Haworth's two-run homer against Cal State Fullerton on February 28, Mauricio Millan's RBI single against Missouri State on March 9, Kaleb Duncan's two-run homer vs. UAB on March 28 (run-rule) and Jaden Gustafson's RBI single against East Carolina on May 4. Wichita State had just one walk-off among their 19 home wins last season.

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 104 times this season, including a program-record eight on April 15 at Kansas. WSU finished 16th nationally in team HBPs last season, led by Mauricio Millan's new program and conference record 24. Jordan Rogers set the program's career HBP record against Rice, and has now been hit 54 times for his career.

TRIPLE THREAT: The Shockers have hit 14 triples this season, ranking 58th nationally and tops in the American Athletic Conference. The pace has slowed, however, as Wichita State has just one three-bagger in their last 14 games (Jaden Gustafson - 5/9 at Rice).

SMALL BALL: With just 34 home runs through the first 54 games of the season, the Shockers are on pace for their fewest homers in a season since the BBCOR era (24 homers in 2013). Of the 34 home runs, 30 of them have been either solo or two-run homers. Wichita State has hit 50 or more long balls in each of the last four seasons, including 74 last year.

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 30 hits in 69 at-bats for a staggering .425 average, while hitting a more modest .272 against righties. 

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.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,362 wins, 1,310 losses and nine ties, Wichita State ranks in the top ten of all college baseball programs with a .642 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.