Charlotte (14-7, 0-0 American) at Wichita State (15-8, 0-0 American)

Friday, March 20 | 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 Eddie Copper (2-1, 3.05) vs. RHP Matthew Cuccias (2-0, 2.74)

Saturday, March 21 | 2:05 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Drew Munn (3-0, 2.42) vs. RHP Brady Hamilton (3-2, 3.62)

Sunday, March 22 | 12:05 pm CT | 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: Wichita State looks to get back in the win column with a three-game home series against Charlotte to open American Conference play. The series begins Friday evening at 6:05 pm, followed by a Saturday afternoon contest at 2:05 pm and a Sunday series finale at 12:05 pm. The Shockers will attempt to shrug off a pair of midweek defeats at home to Nebraska, dropping game one by the score of 8-1 and game two, 10-1. The Shockers had outscored Butler 77-16 in a four-game sweep over the weekend, but were limited to just two runs on 10 total hits against the Huskers. 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 2026. The Voice of the Shockers Mike Kennedy will handle play-by-play duties Friday and Saturday, with Denning Gerig on the air for Sunday's contest. All three 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 49ers have played just eight times previously: three-game series each of the last two seasons, a first-round American Championship meeting in 2025 and a single contest in 2002. Wichita State leads the abbreviated series, 5-3. Charlotte won three of four meetings in 2025, sandwiching 7-1 and 5-4 wins around a 4-2 WSU victory in the regular season before winning 7-1 in the conference tournament. 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 2024, 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 bring a 14-7 overall record to Wichita after splitting a pair of midweek games, picking up a road win at South Carolina before dropping an 11-10 decision at home to USC Upstate. A talented pitching staff has already racked up four shutouts this season, 4th-most in the nation, highlighted by a 14-0 run-rule win over #11 Virginia on March 3. The pitching is aided by a defense that is top-25 in the country with a .982 fielding percentage. Infielder Dawson Bryce was named Preseason American Conference Player of the Year after hitting .340 with 14 homers in 2025. Head coach Robert Woodard is in his seventh year with Charlotte, bringing a 195-142 (.579) record in Friday's series opener. 

OFFENSE STYMIED:  Wichita State entered the double midweek against Nebraska ranked among the nation's leaders in most offensive categories after a 77-run outburst against Butler. The Shockers were limited offensively by the Huskers, however, managing just two runs on 10 total hits over the course of the two games. WSU mustered seven hits, three walks and a hit by pitch in the first game but stranded 10 runners, then were limited to three hits in Wednesday's finale. The final 16 Shocker hitters were retired by a combination on five Nebraska relievers.

LEADOFF LACKING:  One key reason the Wichita State offense struggled to generate runs against the Huskers in a dearth of leadoff baserunners, an area where the Shockers have excelled through the first third of the 2026 season. WSU did not get a single leadoff runner on base in Wednesday's defeat; as a team, the Shockers are hitting .391 leading off innings this season.

30-PIECE: The Shockers scored 30 runs in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against Butler, the 6th-highest output in a single game in program history. The 30-1 win was tied for the largest margin of victory against a D1 opponent, matching a 31-2 win over Howard in 2002. The offensive explosion was highlighted by a 13-run bottom of the sixth, the largest single-inning total since April 6, 2011 against Alcorn State (14 runs). WSU recorded 10 hits in the inning, all singles.

ONE-UPPING THEMSELVES: The 30-run explosion came two days after the Shockers scored 27 runs in the series opener against Butler, a game where Wichita State scored in every inning for the first time since April 11, 1999 against Illinois State. Entering 2026, the Shockers had not scored more than 20 runs in a game since 2015 but accomplished the feat three times in the first 20 games of 2026.

MAX POWER: Senior catcher Max Kaufer leads the nation with a 1.180 slugging percentage, clubbing 11 home runs in 50 at-bats. Kaufer already has four multi-homer games, including an incredible performance against West Georgia on March 7, when he came off the bench in the seventh inning to hit a game-tying three-run homer, then one inning later hit a go-ahead grand slam.

DYNAMIC DUO: Wichita State are one of just two teams in the American Conference with multiple qualified hitters batting .400 or better, joining UTSA. Kaufer (.440) and Washburn (.425) rank 17th and 34th in the nation in batting average, 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 23 games of 2026, that number is already at seven and has come from six different sources.

BIG INNING(S): After going more than a decade without scoring double-digit runs in an inning, Wichita State did so five times in the first 20 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, 11 in the sixth against West Georgia on March 6, 11 in the third against Butler on March 12 and 13 against Butler in the sixth on March 14. 

SMALL BALL: Despite slugging 33 home runs through the season's first 23 games, Wichita State has shown an increased willingness to sacrifice bunt. The Shockers rank 22nd nationally and tops in the American Conference with 15 sacrifices already this season.

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 2,377 wins, 1,320 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.