Wichita State baseball ends skid with 10-run outburst

It was perhaps appropriate that Central Michigan wore camouflage baseball jerseys on Sunday afternoon, because its pitchers eventually became indistinguishable.

Wichita State swung without prejudice, finally breaking free from its offensive doldrums in a 10-5 win at Eck Stadium. The Shockers scored five runs against three CMU pitchers in the seventh inning, getting six runners on base before the Chippewas recorded an out.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for WSU (4-9), which had scored 10 runs combined in its previous six games.

“It took us 13 games to feel like this,” said WSU catcher Ryan Tinkham, who was in the middle of two big innings. “We needed it. Now that we know how to play like that, we can kind of roll from this.”

The Shockers scored four runs in the fifth to take a 5-1 lead, breaking through against CMU starter Jason Gamble, who had allowed a .140 opposition batting average with a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings before Sunday.

Tinkham had a two-run double in the fifth, an inning also highlighted by the first of two bunt singles by Mikel Mucha that weren’t intended to be hits.

The Chippewas answered with their second unlikely home run, following a solo shot in the fourth by Daniel Jipping, who with two hits on Sunday raised his average to .217.

After CMU scored to make it 5-2, No. 9 hitter Joe Houlihan, who struck out in all three of his other at-bats, launched a long homer to left to tie the score against reliever Chandler Sandburn.

“That’s the point you’ve got to kind of get away from,” Mucha said. “You can’t let that get to you, you’ve just got to keep scoring. That’s what we told ourselves, ‘Hey, we’re not done scoring.’ You just have to get back after it. We weren’t done.”

WSU willed itself into a confidence to continue scoring, then was spurred by that energy in the seventh. After Tanner Kirk, who saved runs with two shining defensive plays, started with a leadoff double, Mucha attempted a sacrifice two innings after he turned a safety squeeze into a single.

Again, Mucha beat the throw to first and suddenly the Shockers were playing for multiple runs. Chase Rade was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Daniel Kihle gapped a two-run double, and Tinkham plated the third run with a line-drive single.

CMU changed pitchers after Josh Pierce threw ball one to Sam Hilliard, and pinch-hitter Taylor Sanagorski drove in a run with a single on Sean Renzi’s first pitch. Jordan Farris followed with a sacrifice fly against another new pitcher, Braxton Markle.

“We talked about trying to be loose and enjoy the game like you did as a kid,” said WSU coach Todd Butler, who coached third base this weekend for the first time in his season-plus with the Shockers. “Go out and play with some joy and some energy.

“Really and truly, that’s the point that we’re trying to make to them – it doesn’t make a difference who’s pitching, it’s all about what we’re doing.”

The Shockers employed an enthusiasm during the seventh that had been missing during their losing streak. Mucha clapped emphatically after his bunt single and pumped his fist after sliding in to score on Rader’s double.

WSU’s dugout often erupted in cheers and encouragement, finally drowning out the CMU side which had done the same all weekend.

“When everyone is bought in and everyone is hyped up, it kind of makes a difference,” Mucha said. “You can’t come out playing dead. When you have everyone behind you and everyone’s excited, it does make a difference, especially when you come up to the plate in that big inning and get that clutch hit.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2015 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Wichita State baseball ends skid with 10-run outburst."