Mikel Mucha’s homer in the ninth inning gives Wichita State a 4-3 win

Mikel Mucha hit his first home run in 2013, part of run-rule rout of Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. His second home run will carry many more memories.

Mucha a junior left fielder, blasted a fastball over the right-field fence with two outs in the ninth inning to give Wichita State a 4-3 win over Evansville on Friday at Eck Stadium.

“A no-doubter off the bat,” said first baseman Ryan Tinkham said. “It was good to see him come through for us.”

Mucha ran a few steps before he knew, watching the ball sail toward the outfield hill. The Shockers surged out of the dugout to watch the ball land. Mucha circled the bases and a happy mob awaited him at home plate to pound on his back and slap hands.

He survived the celebration.

“Barely,” he said.

The Shockers (20-29, 7-9 Missouri Valley Conference) won their sixth straight game at home. Evansville (27-20, 9-10) rallied from a 3-1 deficit with two two-out runs in the seventh inning and needed one more out to get the game to the 10th inning.

Evansville reliever Conor Gilligan, a 6-foot-5 junior with a delivery that distracts hitters with long arms and legs, retired the first seven Shockers he faced to extend a scoreless streak that started on March 14. With the count 1-1, he left a fastball up that Mucha, who replaced Keenan Eaton in the seventh inning for defense, smashed.

“He’s definitely got a weird angle coming out and that always plays a factor when you’ve got those goofy guys throwing,” Mucha said. “You just have to focus in and get your timing down and see it as early as you can with those kind of guys.”

Evansville pitchers didn’t leave many balls up in the strike zone. The Shockers spent most of the game grounding out to the left side of the infield, 11 times against starter Brodie Harkness.

WSU took a 3-1 lead in the sixth when Harkness wobbled a bit and gave the Shockers a better target. Sam Hilliard singled up the middle and Tinkham followed with a double to left. Hillard scored on a groundout. Tinkham gave WSU a 3-1 lead when he scored courtesy of a throwing error by third baseman Jonathan Ramon, one of three by the Aces.

“We need to make the adjustment a lot earlier than that,” Tinkham said. “He left a changeup up to me. We finally got our timing down and let the ball travel a little bit and were seeing it a little bit better.”

WSU starter Isaac Anderson rebounded from a rough outing at Missouri State with an efficient 6 2/3 innings, his longest performance since March 7. He threw 97 pitches, allowed 10 hits, struck out two and walked one.

Long counts and walks plagued WSU starters all season and put a burden on the bullpen. Anderson walked a batter in the second and didn’t go to another three-ball count until the sixth. He threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of the 29 batters faced. He used his changeup against left-handed hitters and spotted his fastball to get ahead.

“In a starting role, your pitch count is crucial,” he said. “The more command I had, the more ahead I was of hitters, then my pitch count is going to be down and they’re going to be on their heels, not knowing what to expect.”

Anderson hustled his way into a double play, taking the relay throw from shortstop Trey Vickers, to end a bases-loaded threat. He gave up a run on Ramon’s two-out triple in the third. While the Aces got on base, he limited the damage because he didn’t walk hitters.

“There’s even more to him, but he competed and stayed in the game,” WSU coach Todd Butler said.

In the seventh, Anderson gave up a one-out single to Shain Showers and a two-out single to Jarod Perry to end his day. Butler went to lefty Reagan Biechler to face left-handed Kevin Kaczmarski, the nation’s leading hitter. Kaczmarski doubled down the line to right field, just past a diving Tinkham at first, to drive in two runs and tie the game 3-all.

“I was close,” Tinkham said. “He just squeaked it down the line.”

Kaczmarski entered the game hitting .468 and went 4 for 5 to extend his hitting streak to 21 games and push his average to .479.

“He is the best hitter in the conference,” Butler said. “You pick your poison with Kaczmarski. We go left on left, thinking that would work.”

WSU reliever John Hayes tipped the pitching battle to the Shockers with three strikeouts, one of Kaczmarski to end top of the ninth, over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. That got his team into the bottom of the inning, where Mucha launched WSU’s first game-winning home run since Cody Lassley against Bradley in 2010.

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Mikel Mucha’s homer in the ninth inning gives Wichita State a 4-3 win."