How good are they? Shockers to find out with first AAC baseball series at East Carolina

The Wichita State baseball team will begin its inaugural season in the American Athletic Conference in perhaps the most difficult way possible: with a three-game road series with East Carolina starting on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

East Carolina (18-5) is a consensus top-20 team in the college baseball rankings and just took two of three on the road at Central Florida, another top-25 team and the defending AAC champions

Wichita State (18-4) enters the series on a six-game winning streak and fresh off a 9-6 win at Central Arkansas, its fifth road win of the season — already matching last season's road win total.

"Our goal is to go in there and start with a bang and hopefully take the road series and do well in our conference opener," WSU junior Luke Ritter said. "That would definitely be a big step for us and make a statement to the rest of the conference."

Players say confidence has been building, as Wichita State is off to its best start to a season in the last decade.

After three straight losing seasons, the Shockers appear well on their way to ending that streak and possibly being a surprise team in the AAC. A good showing in Greenville, N.C. against an annual conference title contender would be a good start.

"We've been together for a while and we've got a lot of experience, and I think that relationship really helps us out there on the field," WSU senior Trey Vickers said. "We've been able to put a lot of things together this season and now we're on a roll with it. We want to keep it going and take care of business."

WSU and ECU have produced at nearly an identical clip offensively. The Shockers have hit for a little more power, but ECU's pitching staff has a slight edge with its team earned-run average of 2.58, which leads the American.

Thursday's game will feature WSU's Codi Heuer (4-0, 3.18 ERA) against ECU's Trey Benton (4-2, 2.43), while Friday's game will feature each team's No. 1 starters in WSU's Liam Eddy (5-0, 1.57) and ECU's Chris Holba (5-0, 1.32). Tommy Barnhouse (2-1, 3.21) will throw on Saturday for the Shockers.

After posting a .163 batting average through his first 14 games, Ritter is hitting .407 during a six-game hitting streak he carries into the ECU series.

"I went up to him last week and he said, 'I'm struggling,' and I was like, 'No, you're not,'" WSU coach Todd Butler said. "He has hit more hard balls right at position players than any other player in our lineup. He can really hit it and now that balls are finally falling, his confidence is really coming around."

Butler said he wants to see Ritter fit in as the team's leadoff man in front of Greyson Jenista and Alec Bohm, the team's power hitters.

Now that those hard balls are starting to become hits, Ritter says he has the confidence to deliver.

"There was definitely some frustration there because you feel like you're not doing it for the team and helping your team win," Ritter said. "But I just kept grinding and it's starting to work out. I know if I can get on base, then I'm probably scoring because of those guys behind me. I'm just trying to do my part and help my team win."

This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 2:34 PM with the headline "How good are they? Shockers to find out with first AAC baseball series at East Carolina."