Shocker report: Evansville 5, WSU 1
Friday’s box score
Evansville 5, Wichita St. 1
| Wichita State | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Kihle lf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .344 |
| Parker 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .301 |
| Gillaspie 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .389 |
| Simpson 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .254 |
| Bayliff rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .272 |
| Green cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .293 |
| Baker c | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .235 |
| Kirk ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .239 |
| Dearman dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .267 |
| Totals | 31 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 | |
| Evansville | |||||||
| Jyawook lf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .343 |
| Mahon 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | .283 |
| Kaczmarski cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .281 |
| Pollock c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| Synek 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .262 |
| McKibban 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .319 |
| Ramon dh | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .256 |
| Williams ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .115 |
| Perry rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .280 |
| Totals | 32 | 5 | 90 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Wichita State | 000 | 001 | 000 | — | 1 |
| Evansville | 030 | 000 | 11x | — | 5 |
E — Simpson, Williams, Freeland. DP — WSU, Evansville 2. LOB — WSU 4, Evansville 10. 2B — Baker (4), Mahon (9), Williams (3). SF — Pollock.
| Wichita State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| Ladwig L,2-5 | 6 2/3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1.47 |
| Palmer | 1/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.80 |
| Ashford | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.66 |
| Tyler | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.52 |
| Evansville | |||||||
| Freeland W,6-1 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1.74 |
| Johns | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.41 |
WP — Ashford, Freeland. PB — Pollock. HBP — Simpson (by Freeland), Ramon (by Ladwig. Umpires — home, Danny Jimenez; first, Carlos Martinez; third, Jason Stidham. T — 2:39. A — 589.
One pitch, one chance
Wichita State coach Todd Butler continues to be disappointed in his team’s execution with runners on base. The Shockers went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and are 6 for 64 in the past seven games.
On Friday, two missed opportunities stuck out.
In the third, Tyler Baker led off with a double and reached third with no outs after Kyle Freeland’s pickoff throw glanced off the fielder’s glove. Tanner Kirk struck out after failing to get a bunt down. Freeland then struck out Tanner Dearman and got Daniel Kihle to fly out to strand Baker.
In the sixth, the Shockers wasted an even bigger opportunity after cutting the lead to 3-1. They had two on and no outs with Chase Simpson at the plate. He chopped a ball over Freeland to second baseman Boomer Synek to start a double play. Freeland struck out Garrett Bayliff to end the inning.
“All we’re doing is sac bunting there (with Simpson) and we pull it back and swing and hit into a double play,” Butler said. “We want to bunt them to second and third and have one out with Bayliff up and maybe we can get a base hit and score two.”
Freeland didn’t give the Shockers many other chances.
“He’s going to throw strikes and you’ve got to hit him,” Butler said. “He’s not going to walk you. You get about one pitch an at-bat to hit, and if you take it, he’s going to wipe you out with two strikes.”
Worth noting
Evansville won the series opener at Braun Stadium against WSU for the third straight time. WSU won the series 2-1 in 2010 and lost 2-1 in 2012.… WSU is 50 for 230 (.222) during its seven-game skid with 15 RBIs.… The losing streak is tied for sixth-longest in program history with teams in 1910-11, 1912-13 and 1949. In the post-1978 era, only the 2009 streak of eight games is longer.… Freeland tied his career-high with 15 strikeouts, first set last weekend at Charlotte. In his past two outings, Freeland has struck out 30 and walked one.
Paul Suellentrop
This story was originally published April 11, 2014 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Shocker report: Evansville 5, WSU 1."