Zach Lewis fires three-hit shutout for Wichita State

Wichita State’s evolving ace Zach Lewis came off the mound primed to campaign on his own behalf after the eighth inning Friday against Evansville.

Lewis had already gone farther than any Shocker pitcher this season. But with a comfortable lead and three outs to get in his last start at Eck Stadium, Lewis wanted more.

“I felt in control,” said Lewis, a senior from Palos Heights, Ill. “I felt like I had good stamina. I felt like I had good control of the game and wanted to save the bullpen.”

WSU coach Todd Butler was easily sold. And when Lewis got Evansville catcher Travis Tokarek to line into a game-ending double play, the Shockers had a 6-0 victory on the right-hander’s three-hitter.

Shortstop Trey Vickers hit a two-run double and catcher Noah Croft reached base four times as the Shockers (24-25, 8-8 Missouri Valley) took the series opener and denied Evansville (15-33, 6-9) an opportunity to pass them in the conference standings.

Lewis pitched WSU’s first complete game since Cole Tyler blanked Southern Illinois 8-0 on April 29, 2016. He struck out eight and walked one to extend a personal scoreless innings streak to 21 1/3 and lowered his ERA to 2.36.

“When he comes in after the eighth inning and says, ‘This is my game,’ you kind of go, ‘This is a senior. He’s going to close it out,’” Butler said. “It’s his last start at home and what a way to go out.”

Lewis worked through minor turbulence in the sixth, getting Tokarek to fly out to center after Evansville loaded the bases with two outs. His 106-pitch outing included eight-pitch first and eighth innings, and a four-pitch third.

“Right from the get-go, everything was clicking,” said Croft, who supported Lewis with two singles and two walks. “He was hitting spots. Even when he missed the spot, they were swinging right through a lot of them.”

A hint of selfishness would have been understandable from Lewis, who allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings in his previous start at Dallas Baptist. He got a no-decision in that game after WSU’s bullpen surrendered a six-run lead before the Shockers won 8-6.

Lewis was more concerned about moving forward and enticing Evansville into groundball outs. The Aces had 11.

“I just came out and set the tone, being aggressive early and making them hit the sinker,” Lewis said. “I caught on to them in the third or fourth inning, trying to lay off the sinker and make me throw more secondary pitches. But I just made them hit the sinker, put it in play and get groundball outs.”

WSU’s offense broke through in the fourth against Evansville starter Patrick Schneiders. Willie Schwanke led off with a walk and scored on Dayton Dugas’ RBI groundout.

The Shockers did their biggest damage an inning later, as Alex Jackson, Greyson Jenista and Alec Bohm each singled and scored. Vickers’ two-out double up the right-field line, which scored Bohm and Croft, gave WSU a 5-0 lead.

Jackson added a sacrifice fly in the eighth for WSU’s final run.

“The offense was good and we played good defense,” Butler said. “But the story of the game was really Zach Lewis.… The pitchers who pitch for us the next two days need to really look at how he attacked Evansville.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 10:14 PM with the headline "Zach Lewis fires three-hit shutout for Wichita State."