New Mexico (6-11, 0-0 Mountain West) vs. Wichita State (8-8, 0-0 American)
Friday, March 18 | 6:00 pm | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN Plus | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Riley Egloff (3-0, 2.45) vs. RHP Jace Kaminska (1-0, 4.71)
New Mexico (6-11, 0-0 Mountain West) vs. Wichita State (8-8, 0-0 American)
Saturday, March 19 | 2:00 pm | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN Plus | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Brett Russell (0-3, 4.82) vs. LHP Payton Tolle (2-1, 1.38)
New Mexico (6-11, 0-0 Mountain West) vs. Wichita State (8-8, 0-0 American)
Sunday, March 20 | 10:00 am | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN Plus | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Tristin Lively (0-1, 5.51) vs. RHP Cameron Bye (1-0, 0.00)
SCENE SETTER: The Shockers continue their 13-game homestand with a three-game weekend series against the Lobos of New Mexico, scheduled for 6:00, 2:00 and 10:00 am first pitches. The series finale was originally scheduled for a 1:00 pm first pitch before being moved up to accommodate New Mexico’s travel schedule. Wichita State is coming off a series win against South Dakota State last weekend, sandwiching a pair of victories around a Saturday defeat. This is the first week of the season for WSU without a midweek contest. Wichita State opened the season dropping their first six games, the worst start to a campaign since the 1953 season, but have since won eight of their last ten. The Shockers are coming off a 31-23 season a year ago, including an 18-13 mark in the American Athletic Conference that produced a third-place finish, WSU’s best since joining the AAC in 2017. Wichita State is seeking 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 all Wichita State baseball broadcasts in 2022. “The Voice of the Shockers” and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will have the call on Friday and Sunday, with former Shocker All-American pitcher Shane Dennis taking over radio broadcasting duties on Saturday. Pregame show begins approximately 20 minutes prior to first pitch. All WSU home games at Eck Stadium in 2022 will air live on ESPN Plus (WatchESPN.com) with Dennis on the call Friday and Sunday and Pat Strathman handling the play-by-play on Saturday. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available for all games at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com.
SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Lobos have met 33 times, with Wichita State holding a 23-10 lead in the all-time series. The two teams played a home-and-home series in 2015-16, resulting in a pair of home sweeps. The Shockers won all three games at Eck Stadium in 2015 by scores of 6-5, 8-6 and 6-5, but New Mexico enacted a measure of revenge the following season with a three-game sweep in Albuquerque, 17-7, 8-4 and 8-6. On March 20, 1990, Wichita State’s Tyler Green no-hit the Lobos in a 12-0 WSU win, the only nine inning no-hitter in program history. The prior season, the Shockers routed New Mexico 21-4 in a game that featured 27 Wichita State hits and a 14-run inning, both marks that rank top five in WSU baseball history.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO: The Lobos enter the weekend with a record of 6-11, including a 3-3 mark in Mountain West play. New Mexico has won just one game away from home in nine tries, including a pair of defeats in the midweek against #17 Texas Tech. In the first game of the series, Texas Tech scored 16 runs in the second inning on their way to a 28-2 win. New Mexico carried a 5-4 lead into the eighth inning on Wednesday, but the Red Raiders scored seven times in the frame to walk away with an 11-5 victory. In addition to the two games in Lubbock against Texas Tech, New Mexico has already played two games against #5 Oregon State, a single game against #16 Arizona, and two games against #25 Gonzaga. The Lobos are hitting .239 as a team, led by Aruba native Lenny Junior Ashby, who is off to a .313 start with a team-leading five home runs. New Mexico has only attempted seven stolen bases, successful five times. On the mound, Lobos hurlers bring a 7.78 ERA into the series, with ten different pitchers currently holding a double-digit ERA. The weekend rotation of Riley Egloff, Brett Russell and Tristin Lively has combined for a 4.11 ERA in 57 innings; all other New Mexico pitchers have a 10.10 ERA in 90 frames. The Lobos have turned 22 double plays through 17 games, most in the country. Their 11 triples are also top-five nationally. Former Wichita State volunteer assistant coach Jon Coyne is on the coaching staff at New Mexico under first year head coach Tod Brown, who came to Albuquerque after 14 seasons leading North Dakota State. Pitching coach Michael Lopez is also in his first season with the Lobos.
BAT BREAKOUT: Entering Sunday’s series finale against South Dakota State, the Shockers had not scored more than eight runs in any of their first 15 games and had mustered just seven total runs through the first two games against the Jackrabbits. Wichita State then exploded for 19 runs on 14 hits, highlighted by a nine-run fourth inning that included three home runs. The Shockers set new season highs for total bases (27) and walks (10).
HAVE A WEEK: Junior shortstop Andrew Stewart had a career week against Oral Roberts and South Dakota State, earning a spot on the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll for his efforts. Stewart finished the week 8-for-15 (.533) with a double and his first career home run, driving in five and scoring five times. He capped the week with a monster performance on Sunday, going 3-for-4 with a career-high in both runs scored (four) and RBI (four). The offensive outburst raised Stewart’s season average to .300 after he hit .201 a season ago.
GOING STREAKING: Junior Sawyre Thornhill has begun the 2022 season with a hit in all 15 games he has played, missing out only on last week’s win over Oral Roberts due to an ejection in the previous contest. The junior college transfer has five multi-hit games during the streak, which he extended on Sunday with a fourth inning single. Thornhill leads the team with a .328 batting average.
IN A PINCH: Sophomore Drew Miller crossed several firsts off the list in the eighth inning of Sunday’s win over South Dakota State. His three-run triple was not only his first Wichita State hit, but also the first pinch-hit of the season for the Shockers. WSU pinch-hitters had previously been 0-for-6. It also represented the second three-run triple of the weekend for Wichita State, following Brock Rodden’s bases-clearing three-bagger on Friday.
EVEN SPLIT: Through the first 16 games of the season, Wichita State hitters are batting .257 against left-handed pitching and .255 against righties. Shocker opponents are hitting exactly .263 against both lefties and righties.
SHOCKERS IN THE RPI: Wichita State enters the weekend with an RPI of 54, three spots behind UCF for the top spot in the American. The Shockers have played Texas State (14), Oklahoma (21), Oral Roberts (28) and Louisiana Tech (37) in the non-conference portion of the schedule, with three future matchups against Oklahoma State (13) on the way.
GOOD BYE: Sophomore Cameron Bye continued his excellent start to the season with three shutout innings on Sunday, allowing just one hit. Bye has now opened the season with 12.1 innings without surrendering an earned run, picking up 12 strikeouts along the way. After making the first start of his career last Tuesday against Oral Roberts, Bye moves to the weekend rotation with a Sunday start against New Mexico.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Eck Stadium, home of Tyler Field, has consistently been one of the toughest places for opponents to win in its storied history. The Shockers own an all-time home record of 1,269-377-2, including an 859-274-2 mark at Tyler Field (first season 1988). Since taking over as head coach in 2020, Eric Wedge has put together a 33-9 record at Eck, highlighted by a spotless 10-0 mark during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
HOLDEN IT DOWN: Grad transfer Connor Holden has solidified the back end of the Wichita State bullpen. Through seven scoreless appearances as the Shocker closer, Holden has allowed just six baserunners on four hits and a pair of hit by pitches. Of the four saves that Holden has snagged, he has had to pitch around a runner at second with less than two outs in three of them, including last Tuesday against Oral Roberts when he struck out the side following a leadoff double. The native of Louisville, Kentucky was 5-1 with a 4.43 ERA and nine saves in four years at Murray State.
TRANSFER TRACKER: The Shockers added 12 transfers to the 2022 roster, including six from Division-I programs. RHP Connor Holden (Murray State), LHP Austin Wallace (Texas), LHP Adam Ketelsen (Iowa), INF Will Carpenter (Penn State), RHP Matt Boyer (Saint Louis) and RHP Grayson Jones (James Madison) all make their way to Wichita for 2022.
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY: Shocker coaches Eric Wedge, Mike Pelfrey, Mike Sirianni and Director of Operations Loren Hibbs all have ties to the WSU baseball program. Wedge powered the Shockers to a national championship as the starting catcher in 1989, earning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors along the way. Pelfrey was an All-American starter who ranks second in program history in ERA (2.18) and strikeouts (366). Sirianni was a volunteer assistant coach for the Shockers in 2015 and 2016 before taking the head coaching position at Regis University. Hibbs helped WSU to the program’s first-ever CWS appearance in 1982, and still holds the NCAA record for single-season runs scored with 125.
ON DECK: The Shockers welcome in a pair of Big 12 foes during the midweek, taking on Oklahoma on Tuesday and Kansas the following evening.
