Butler (4-12, 0-0 Big East) at Wichita State (11-6, 0-0 American)

Thursday, March 12 | 6:05 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Grayson Bradberry (0-0, 19.29) vs. RHP Matthew Cuccias (1-0, 2.00)

Friday, March 13 | 3:05 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Max Winders (2-1, 3.75) vs. RHP Brady Hamilton (2-2, 2.82)

Saturday, March 14 | 1:05 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Corbin Snyder (1-2, 7.79) vs. RHP Johnny Nuanez (2-0, 1.88)

Saturday, March 14 | TBA | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

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SCENE SETTER: After dropping their first midweek game of the season on Tuesday night at Kansas State, Wichita State returns home for the final non-conference series of the season against Butler. The Shockers and Bulldogs will play a unique Thursday-Friday-Saturday series at Eck Stadium, with single games the first two days and a Saturday doubleheader to conclude the series. Wichita State brings an 11-6 record into the four-game set, but have dropped three of their last four games. The Shockers are looking to bounce back from a 20-36 record in 2025, the fewest wins in the modern era of the WSU program (1978-present). Wichita State is also 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 2026. Denning Gerig will have the play-by-play call for all four games of the series. All games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+ ($), with Shocker Hall of Famer Shane Dennis on play-by-play and former Shocker outfielder Corrigan Bartlett providing color commentary. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, is available at GoShockers.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Bulldogs have played just once previously, a postseason matchup at the 2000 Minneapolis Regional. Wichita State defeated Butler, 15-5, and later advanced to the Regional championship game where they fell to Nebraska.

SCOUTING BUTLER: The Bulldogs bring a 4-12 overall record to Wichita after dropping a midweek game at Bellarmine on Tuesday. Butler has dropped all four weekend series in 2026: losing two of three at UT Martin, all three at Murray State, two of three at Marshall and three of four vs. Morehead State. The Bulldogs are coming off a 15-39 season in 2025, including a 4-17 mark in Big East play. They were picked last in the eight-team 2026 Big East preseason coaches poll. Butler pitchers have struggled to a 7.98 team ERA through 16 games, allowing 12.37 hits per nine innings to rank 283rd nationally. The offense is paced by slugger Matthew Rhoades, who has already clubbed 10 home runs this season, including four multi-homer games. Head coach Blake Beemer is in his fourth season with the Bulldogs and owns a career record of 51-129 (.283).

TOUCH 'EM ALL: The Shockers launched 13 home runs in the four-game series against West Georgia, highlighted by five in just eight innings of Sunday's series finale. The five homers are the highest in a single game for Wichita State since March 25, 2023 against UMass. Wichita State is already at 75% of their season home run total from a year ago (36 HR in 2025, 27 in 2026).

RALLY CAPS: Wichita State staged one of the largest comebacks in recent program history in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against West Georgia. The Shockers trailed 7-0 after three and a half innings and 7-1 into the bottom of the seventh but scored six runs in the seventh to tie and five more in the eighth to surge to a 12-7 win. Max Kaufer was the driving force behind the rally, coming off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit, three-run homer that tied the game in the seventh and then a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth. The comeback was Wichita State's largest since May 14, 2016, against Illinois State, when WSU erased a nine-run deficit. The Shockers very nearly one-upped themselves in Sunday's series finale, trimming a 13-2 deficit to 13-11 in the eighth before the game was called by travel curfew.

MULTI-HIT PARADE: Redshirt senior Owen Washburn is in the midst of an impressive hitting streak batting in the middle of the Wichita State lineup. The Texas Tech transfer has racked up nine consecutive multi-hit games dating back to the first game of the Omaha series on February 26. During that stretch, Washburn is 21-for-37, good for a .568 batting average. Washburn has racked up three doubles and three homers during the tear, knocking in 12 runs and scoring 11 of his own.

MAX POWER: Kaufer's heroics on Saturday were just a part of a jaw-dropping weekend for the Wichita State catcher. Kaufer finished the West Georgia series 7-for-11 with all seven hits going for extra bases (five home runs, two doubles), driving in 12 runs while scoring eight of his own. The South Carolina transfer has now reached base in seven consecutive plate appearances, including four home runs, becoming the first Shocker to accomplish the feat since Payton Tolle in 2023. Kaufer ranks second nationally with a slugging percentage of 1.146 and has more extra-base hits (12) than strikeouts (9). 

DYNAMIC DUO: Wichita State is the only team in the American Conference with multiple qualified hitters batting .400 or better. Washburn (.467) and Kaufer (.415) rank 19th and 80th in the nation, respectively. 

LONG RELIEF: An encouraging trend for the Shockers in the early stages of the 2026 season is the pitching staff's ability to get length out of the bullpen. In 2025, Wichita State had nine instances of a reliever working more than two scoreless innings; through 17 games of 2026, that number is already at seven and has come from six different sources (Caleb Reed, Ryan Morrison, Matthew Cuccias, Brok Eddy, Brady Pacha, Dax Sharp).

BIG INNING(S): After going more than a decade without scoring double-digit runs in an inning, Wichita State did so three times in the first 13 games of 2026. The Shockers scored 10 in the 5th inning against Northern Colorado on February 15, 11 in the third against Hawaii on February 22, and 11 more in the sixth against West Georgia on March 6. The latest offensive outburst helped the Shockers to a 22-4 victory, the Shockers most runs since putting up 26 against North Dakota on February 25, 2012.

SMALL BALL: Despite slugging 27 home runs through the season's first 17 games, Wichita State has shown an increased willingness to sacrifice bunt. The Shockers rank seventh nationally and tops in the American Conference with 15 sacrifices already this season, led by five from Alex Ulloa and four from Zeb Henry.

NEW LOOK: With just seven returners from last season's roster (five position players, two pitchers) Wichita State is looking at a near-complete overhaul from the team that stepped on the field in 2025. The pitching staff in particular returns just Brady Hamilton (2-7, 5.38 ERA in 78.2 innings) and Karsen Richard (0-1, 9.00 ERA in 16.0 innings); the 19 other Shockers who threw a pitch in 2025 have graduated, transferred, or been drafted (RHP Nick Potter, 5th Round, Houston Astros).

AGE BEFORE BEAUTY: Head coach Brian Green made a point to add experience in the transfer portal over the offseason, a mission that resulted in the addition of four grad transfers, eight seniors and three redshirt juniors. All told, the Shockers added 77 seasons of previous college baseball experience to the roster among their 31 newcomers.

LOCAL BOYS: Wichita State's new-look roster includes a healthy dose of newcomers with local ties. Right-handed pitcher Brady Pacha (Bishop Carroll High School), utilityman Drew Bugner (Andale High School), infielder Owen Rush (Goddard Eisenhower High School), and left-handed pitcher Mitchell Johnson (Derby High School) all hail from the greater Wichita area, in addition to returning outfielder Jaden Gustafson from Maize High School.

HIGHLY TOUTED: A trio of Shocker transfers playing their final season of college baseball in 2026 bring noteworthy pedigrees to Wichita. Jayson Jones (Oklahoma State transfer), Max Kaufer (South Carolina), and Alex Ulloa (Florida International) were all ranked in the top 300 nationally of their respective recruiting classes coming out of high school. Jones leads the way as the #5 player in the 2022 class according to Perfect Game, while Ulloa ranked #65 in 2021 and Kaufer checked in at #257 in 2023.

STAFF CHANGES: Green revamped his coaching staff ahead of the 2026 season, adding three new assistant coaches. Marty Lees was the first addition as recruiting coordinator, bringing experience from previous stops at Oklahoma State, Washington State and Oregon State. Collin Wilber joined the staff as catching coach following stints with Sonoma State and the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, and Jason Foster rounds out the new hires as Pitching Strategist and Director of Analytics. Additionally, Faith Weekley was promoted from Administrative Assistant to Director of Operations.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,373 wins, 1,318 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.