Wichita State (27-25, 11-13 American) vs. South Florida (30-20, 9-15 American)

Thursday, May 14 | 5:30 pm CT | Tampa, Florida (USF Baseball Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
 RHP Matthew Cuccias (4-2, 2.84) vs. RHP Kaden Smith (4-3, 4.64)

Friday, May 15 | 5:30 pm CT | Tampa, Florida (USF Baseball Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

Saturday, May 16 | 1:00 pm CT | Tampa, Florida (USF Baseball Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

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SCENE SETTER: Wichita State looks to secure their place in the American Conference tournament with the final series of the regular season, traveling to Tampa for a three-game set at South Florida. The series begins on Thursday to allow for more rest before the tournament begins on Wednesday. The Shockers head into the final weekend in sole possession of seventh place, just one game ahead of both Charlotte and Tulane but also just two games back of a coveted top-four seed. Under the new conference tournament format, the top two seeds receive a double bye and seeds three and four receive a single bye. The first round of the championship (seeds 5 vs. 8 and 6 vs. 7) are single elimination.

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 against the Bulls, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcast as color commentator. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, is available at GoShockers.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Bulls have met 29 times, with South Florida leading the all-time series 15-13-1. Since Wichita State joined the American Conference in 2017, South Florida leads the series 15-10-1. The lone tie is the most recent one in Wichita State program history, a 9-9 game at Eck Stadium on May 13, 2018, that was called due to South Florida's Sunday travel schedule. The Bulls won three of four meetings in 2025, taking two of three games in Wichita and then eliminating the Shockers from the conference tournament with a 4-3 win in Clearwater. Prior to Wichita State joining The American, the Shockers downed South Florida in Hawaii in 2005 to claim the First Hawaii Title Rainbow Tournament title, and twice to open the 1985 season in New Orleans.

SCOUTING SOUTH FLORIDA: The Bulls enter the series opener on Thursday with a 30-20 overall record, including a 9-15 mark in American Conference play. South Florida was one of the conference's hottest teams to begin the season, owning a league-best 21-4 record after beating Florida Gulf Coast on March 24. Since then, however, USF has struggled to a 9-16 mark, notching just one series win (Memphis). The Bulls are built around pitching and defense, with the top fielding percentage in the conference (.977) and a top-50 national ERA (4.65). Offensively, USF has ripped off 81 stolen bases but hit just 22 home runs, 16 fewer than the next closest American Conference team. Longtime Indiana State head coach Mitch Hannahs is in his second season with the Bulls after 11 seasons in Terre Haute; overall, he enters Thursday with a 416-259 career record.

BRACKET BREAKDOWN: Wichita State enters the South Florida series with very little certainty in what is still an extremely volatile conference race. The Shockers can still finish anywhere from 3rd to 10th based on the results of the final regular season series. With two wins against South Florida, the Shockers will guarantee themselves a spot in the tournament; with a sweep, WSU can leapfrog as many as four teams assuming certain outcomes around the conference. If the Shockers win just one game against USF, they will need Charlotte or Tulane to lose their series to secure a berth in Clearwater.

MAKING IT WORK: With regular third baseman Jayson Jones dealing with lingering effects from a hamstring injury sustained at UTSA, Wichita State was forced into some unique defensive alignments in the Florida Atlantic series. Evan Escobar made just his second start of the third at third base in the series opener, then Owen Washburn, who had been exclusively a DH, made his first start of the year in right field on Friday. Both Saturday and Sunday, WSU used Nolan Ganter, who had only played first base, as a second and third baseman so that Jones could make his first start of the year at first.

CONSISTENTLY CUCCIAS: Friday starter Matthew Cuccias does not have a double-digit strikeout performance or shutout outing in conference play but has solidified himself as one of the American's most reliable starting pitching options by avoiding bad starts. The junior college transfer has not allowed more than six hits or three earned runs in any appearance this season, holding opponents to a .190 batting average with just two home runs allowed.

ERROR MESSAGE: Wichita State's .960 team fielding percentage is the lowest in the American Conference and the Shocker have struggled defensively over the last month of the season. WSU has committed 33 errors over the last 18 games, including seven miscues in the first game of the series at UTSA. The seven errors are tied for the second-most in single-game program history.

TWO-OUT MAGIC: The Shockers have done much of their damage offensively this season with two outs. WSU has produced a staggering 124 two-out RBI, 32 more than their opponents. Alex Ulloa and Owen Washburn are the top two-out producers, with 20 and 19 RBI in those situations, respectively. The Shockers racked up a season-high 10 of those two-out RBI on 4/19 at East Carolina.

MIDWEEKS WON'T BE MISSED: Wichita State closed out the midweek portion of their schedule on April 28, dropping a 14-1 decision to Kansas in a game called after eight innings by the 10-run rule. The Shockers went 0-7 in midweek games against D1 opponents, getting outscored 68-20. Wichita State had a lead in just one of those games, grabbing a 1-0 and 3-1 edge at Kansas State on March 10.

HANG THE BUNTING: Wichita State catcher Ethan Gonzalez set a new single-game program record with three sacrifice bunts on 4/19 in the win over East Carolina. The junior laid down a sacrifice bunt in five consecutive games and is tied for the American Conference lead with nine sacrifices on the season. The individual program record is 11, set by Andrew Stewart in 2022. Wichita State's 38 team sacrifice bunts are 20th nationally and fifth-most in program history.

INJURY UPDATES: Wichita State announced on 4/14 that catcher Max Kaufer and reliever Ryan Morrison are both out for the season due to injury. Kaufer led 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.

OFF THE BENCH: Head coach Brian Green has had remarkable success in 2026 when calling upon pinch hitters. The Shockers are 24-for-78 (.308) in pinch-hit situations, compared to an 8-for-55 (.145) mark from opponents. 11 different Shockers have recorded a hit off the bench this season.

PACHA PAYOFF: The Shockers can thank righty Brady Pacha for their 11 wins in American Conference play, as the Wichita native has had a hand in all 10 of the 11 WSU victories. In those 10 wins, in which he has earned five saves, Pacha combined for 20.0 innings and allowed just three earned runs on 14 hits, racking up 19 strikeouts with just two walks. Pacha went 94 consecutive batters without issuing a walk from March 13 against Butler to April 24 against Rice.

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. Since the start of conference play, Wichita State has had just three starts of six or more innings: Johnny Nuanez's 6.2 innings at UAB on April 12, 7.1 innings from Matthew Cuccias on April 24 vs. Rice and 7.0 frames from Cuccias this past Friday against Florida Atlantic.

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.