Wichita State (23-15, 7-5 American) at East Carolina (22-15-1, 7-5 American)

Friday, April 17 | 5:00 pm CT | Greenville, North Carolina (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Matthew Cuccias (3-1, 3.54) vs. LHP Luke Payne (1-1, 3.55 ERA)

Saturday, April 18 | 3:00 pm CT | Greenville, North Carolina (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

Sunday, April 19 | 12:00 pm CT | Greenville, North Carolina (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

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SCENE SETTER: After dropping a road midweek game at nationally ranked Kansas on Tuesday night, Wichita State makes the trek to North Carolina for a three-game series against defending conference tournament champion East Carolina. WSU has won each of their two previous road conference series, taking two of three games at Memphis and UAB. The Shockers are in the midst of eight straight games away from the friendly confines of Eck Stadium after opening the season with 21 of the first 26 games at home. All eight of the road games are against teams in the top 50 of the RPI.

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 for the series in Greenville, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcast as color commentator. All three games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+ ($). Live audio, in addition to live statistics, is available at GoShockers.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Pirates have met 28 times in the all-time series, with Wichita State leading, 15-13. WSU took two of three games last season in Wichita, snagging Friday and Sunday wins around a Saturday defeat (5-4, 6-1, 8-7). Jaden Gustafson provided the heroics in the series finale, bouncing a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. The two teams played six times in 2024, a three-game series in Greenville that the Pirates swept (6-4, 11-7, 11-4) and then three times at the conference tournament in Clearwater, where Wichita State won the first and third matchups to eliminate top-seeded East Carolina. The only matchup prior to 2018 came in the 1991 Midwest Regional in Wichita, when the Shockers opened the regional with a 10-5 victory over the Pirates.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA: The Pirates enter play on Friday with a 22-15-1 record, including a 7-5 mark in American Conference play. ECU is coming off a 10-3 defeat at home to North Carolina State on Tuesday night. A strike-throwing pitching staff leads the conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.60:1) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.8) while combining for a 4.61 ERA. Sophomore closer Sean Jenkins is one of the conference's top relief weapons, boasting six saves and a 2.72 ERA over nearly 40 innings of work. The ECU offense features six regulars hitting .300 or better, paced by Jack Herring and Davin Whitaker at .354. Longtime head coach Cliff Godwin is in his 12th season as head coach, bringing a career record of 454-229-2 (.664) into the series.

INJURY UPDATES: Wichita State announced Tuesday that catcher Max Kaufer and reliever Ryan Morrison are both out for the season due to injury. Kaufer was leading the nation with a 1.747 OPS and 11 home runs in 50 at-bats, while Morrison had posted a 3.65 ERA in 12.1 innings out of the bullpen.

PEN PALS: One of the most important recent developments for Wichita State with the injury to Morrison is the emergence of relievers Amar Tsengeg and Brady Owens. Tsengeg has allowed an earned run in just one of his last eight appearances totaling 13.1 innings, while Owens has conceded only one earned run in his last six outings totaling 7.2 frames. The duo has combined to issue seven walks in those 21 innings.

POWER OUTAGE: Wichita State failed to record an extra-base hit on Tuesday against Kansas, settling for six singles against the Jayhawks pitching staff. It is the second time this season that the Shockers have been held without an extra-base knock, joining a March 28 defeat at Memphis when they produced just five singles.

GOING, GOING, GANTER: Wichita State received a power boost from an unlikely source in Sunday's win over UAB, as first baseman Nolan Ganter connected for his first two home runs of the season. Ganter entered the day with just three extra-base hits for the year (all doubles) but launched a pair of two-run shots on his way to a season-high four RBI.

A LITTLE BIT EXTRA: Wichita State's 5-4 win in 10 innings on Saturday at UAB marked the first extra-inning win of 2026 for the Shockers, who also did not have an extra-inning win in 2025. Prior to Saturday, nine run-rule-shortened games meant that Wichita State had played 16 fewer innings than originally scheduled.

OFF THE BENCH: Head coach Brian Green has had remarkable success in 2026 when calling upon pinch hitters. The Shockers are 20-for-54 (.370) in pinch-hit situations, compared to a 7-for-44 (.159) mark from opponents. Nine different Shockers have recorded a hit off the bench this season for the Shockers. Wichita State went 3-for-3 pinch hitting in the UAB series, most notably a two-run single from Josh Wulfert on Sunday as part of their late inning rally.

PACHA PAYOFF: The Shockers can thank righty Brady Pacha for their 7-5 start to American Conference play, as the Wichita native has had a big hand in all seven WSU victories. In those seven wins, in which he has earned four saves, Pacha combined for 15.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs on 10 hits, racking up 17 strikeouts without a walk. Pacha has walked just one of the last 96 batters faced dating back to February 28.

RAZOR SHARP: Wichita State's pitching staff has gotten a major boost from left-hander Dax Sharp, a grad transfer from D2 Central Oklahoma. The southpaw spun three scoreless innings on Sunday against UAB in his first weekend start of the season, dropping his ERA to 2.41 in 18.2 innings. Sharp has not allowed more than one run in any of his nine outings and has only walked a batter in two of them.

SHORT STARTS: The Shockers have leaned more heavily upon their bullpen in recent weeks as WSU starters have struggled to work deep into games on a consistent basis. A Shocker starter has failed to record more than 10 outs 15 times in the last 26 games; WSU did get a huge boost on Sunday from right-hander Johnny Nuanez, who fired 6.2 innings for the second-longest outing of the season for a Shocker starter.

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 44 home runs through the season's first 37 games, Wichita State has shown an increased willingness to sacrifice bunt. The Shockers rank 20th nationally and second in the American Conference with 27 sacrifices already this season; four Wichita State players have four or more sac bunts on the year.

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.

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 2,385 wins, 1,328 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.