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  Bob Lutz  

Mid-week Shockers hard to figure

I have great news for the beleaguered Wichita State baseball fans who probably never want to see the Shockers play another mid-week game.

There is only one remaining -- next Tuesday at Eck Stadium against Oral Roberts.

Mid-week games have become a bugaboo for the Shockers, who are 3-7 in them during April and May.

It doesn't matter who the Shockers play in the middle of the week, they struggle. Central Arkansas beat them this week. So did No. 3 Arizona State.

If WSU isn't one of the 16 teams to host an NCAA Regional later this month, blame it on the middle of the week.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been fright nights for the Shockers, who play this weekend at Evansville in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series.

Weekends, for the most part, are OK. Weekdays are the days WSU baseball fans need to look for cover.

I don't know what's up. I just know that this week, the Shockers lost to Central Arkansas -- Central Arkansas! --and that their bats were humbled by an Arizona State left-hander, Matt Newman, who had pitched two innings all season -- All season!

The two uses of italics and exclamation points in the previous paragraph is a personal record, but I don't know how else to emphasize Wichita State's plight.

It's mostly about lack of offense, especially subtle offense. The Shockers are horrible situational hitters. They can't move runners over. They don't really even try to bunt. They have difficulty making contact when just simple contact would be enough to get a runner from second to third or from third to home.

Mid-week games, traditionally, are an opportunity for hitters to fatten up their stats. They're normally facing second-tier pitchers because opposing teams are saving their best arms for weekend conference series.

During this bad stretch of mid-week games, though, situational hitting has only been part of the problem. The Shockers' hitting, as a whole, has been awful.

In the 10 mid-week games, Wichita State has faced 34 pitchers with a combined ERA of 4.64. In 1,133 1/3 combined innings, those pitchers have allowed 1,260 hits with spotty control.

There's probably not a future Cy Young Award winner in the bunch.

Yet against those pitchers, Wichita State has batted a paltry .242 and averaged only 5.3 runs per game.

What happens to these guys in the middle of the week?

It should be pointed out that typically the Shockers' mid-week opponents are tougher than those which they face in the Missouri Valley Conference.

WSU's opponents in mid-week games since April have been Kansas State (twice), Kansas (twice), Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Oral Roberts, Oklahoma, Central Arkansas and Arizona State.

Central Arkansas?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

The Shockers faced some good pitchers during the stretch. And they did a lot of damage against one of them -- ORU's Carlos Luna.

Still, a .242 batting average?

Mostly, though, WSU has struggled against pitchers who have a diminished role or no role on the weekend for the various teams.

Offensive concerns are nothing new for the Shockers, who have struggled for consistency the past several years.

It's especially noticeable, though, when WSU faces a powerful offensive team like Arizona State. Even though Shockers' starter Tim Kelley pitched well and, for the most part, held the Sun Devils' offense at bay, it was easy to see the difference in the two lineups.

It was even more glaring that Wichita State, which can't thump with the big boys, refuses to accept what it should be: A team that is comfortable playing small ball and scoring just enough runs to support its outstanding pitching staff.

Not doing the little things at the plate show up big for the Shockers. Especially in the middle of the week, when everything is out of whack.

Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz co-hosts "Sports Daily" from 9-11 a.m. weekdays on KFH, 1240-AM and 98.7-FM. Reach him at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.