Wichita State baseball breaks out the offense in second game of season

When Utah Valley’s Kade Poulsen came up against Wichita State in the fourth inning on Saturday, he might as well have been carrying a fungo bat.

His single down the right-field line was placed just where one of WSU’s coaches would have hit one during fall and winter practices. Greyson Jenista corralled it and threw accurately to shortstop Trey Vickers, who nabbed a runner trying to move from first base to third.

The 9-6-5 putout wasn’t a turning point in WSU’s 16-2 win at Eck Stadium, but it gave the Shockers a chance to apply the good habits they sharpened during the offseason.

“That’s what you kind of hope to see,” WSU center fielder Travis Young said. “It seems like we’ve already played 30 games before the season started. The relay – I can’t tell you how many times we’ve practiced that, with a ball down the line and we’re throwing it to second.”

Even though WSU (2-0) effectively decided the game with its six-run second inning, when all of the runs scored with two outs, it perfected many of the situations that can make a difference in close games.

Jordan Boyer executed a fifth-inning hit-and-run to score Young from second base with a single to right field. Young bunted for a base hit with two outs in the second to help set up the Shockers’ first impactful inning.

The Shockers also refrained from an overeager approach at the plate even though they might have been feeling antsy in the season’s second game. They drew nine walks, five during a four-run fourth.

“We bunt every day,” Young said. “Every guy bunts every day. It’s a surprise, because you want to come out and play this well. But it shouldn’t be anything unexpected because we’ve been practicing it and we’re finally putting it to use out here.”

Young had three of WSU’s 14 hits and drove in a pair of runs from the No. 7 spot in the batting order. The Shockers’ Nos. 5 through 9 hitters contributed 12 hits, 10 runs and 12 RBIs, one of which came on Trey Vickers’ solo home run in the third inning.

There wasn’t much offense from the top three, which Butler has loaded with power hitters Greyson Jenista, Dayton Dugas and Alec Bohm, but the rest of the lineup proved as versatile as Butler planned.

“The guys at the bottom, we can do more action,” Butler said. “Bunting, running, hit-and-running, doing some things to score runs. Even taking pitches to get back to the top (of the order). I like the bottom of our order right now, they’re doing a very good job.”

Cody Tyler allowed one earned run through five innings to earn the win for WSU. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning but may have become affected by long waits, as Utah Valley threw 128 pitches and made four mid-inning pitching changes before Tyler’s outing was over.

Not everything went smoothly for the Shockers, as they made a pair of errors and surrendered an unearned run in the fifth inning. Those are mistakes that can become costly in close games, but WSU is already beginning to check off the fundamental plays that can help win them.

“It’s nothing new,” Young said. “We’re just kind of getting out there and playing, and playing loose. Once these first couple games are over, you see guys getting in the groove of things. It’s good to see.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Wichita State baseball breaks out the offense in second game of season."