WSU notes: Baseball faces powerful TCU pitching staff

Wichita State’s baseball team steps out of Missouri Valley Conference play for its toughest non-conference weekend of the season at No. 5 TCU.

The Shockers (11-13) start a three-game series at TCU (18-4) at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

WSU junior Sam Hilliard (0-2, 6,08 ERA) will start Friday’s game and freshman Jeb Bargfeldt (2-0, 2.16) earned a second weekend start after he went five innings without allowing an earned run in a win over Southern Illinois.

WSU is coming off an 8-3 loss at No. 23 Oklahoma State, a game that snapped its five-game win streak.

TCU defeated Oklahoma on Tuesday in 10 innings after losing two of three games to Oklahoma State. The Horned Frogs lead the Big 12 with a 1.77 ERA and its staff has a conference-low 42 walks in 203 1/3 innings. Starters Mitchell Traver (3-0, 1.07), lefty Alex Young (4-1, 1.21) and Preston Morrison (5-0, 1.62) lead the Big 12 in ERA.

Sunday’s 1 p.m. game will be televised on Fox College Sports.

Shockers slumping — WSU’s softball team, the preseason MVC favorite, is in a big hole after two conference series.

The Shockers play Drake in a three-game series beginning with a noon doubleheader on Saturday at Wilkins Stadium. WSU has lost five straight games after Tuesday’s 9-6 loss to Tulsa. The Shockers (16-16, 1-5 MVC) are tied for last in the Valley with Evansville and Bradley.

Drake (14-11, 5-1) is in second place in the MVC, one game behind first-place Southern Illinois.

WSU opened MVC play losing two of three at home to Indiana State. SIU swept the Shockers last weekend by winning three one-run games in Carbondale. WSU gave up the go-ahead run in the sixth inning of the opener and in SIU’s final at-bat in the next two losses.

Drake leads the MVC with a 1.66 ERA in six MVC games.

Worth noting — WSU’s men’s tennis team plays Creighton (11 a.m.) and Newman (4 p.m.) on Saturday. The women’s team plays Missouri State (8 a.m.) and Kansas State (1 p.m.) Saturday. All matches are at the Coleman Tennis Complex. WSU’s women are No. 25 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings … WSU’s volleyball team opens its spring schedule on Saturday with drills and scrimmages against Kansas, Colorado State and Denver in Colby. On April 11, WSU plays at UMKC. It returns to Colby on April 18 to play Colorado.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 2:40 PM with the headline "WSU notes: Baseball faces powerful TCU pitching staff."