Wichita State baseball sweeps Texas Southern in home-opening series under Eric Wedge
The Wichita State baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Texas Southern in its home-opening series at Eck Stadium with a doubleheader victory Saturday.
Junior Garrett Kocis led the Shockers on Saturday with four hits, including his second home run of the season, and eight RBIs, as WSU won 7-2 and then followed it up with a 9-1 victory in the nightcap. WSU improved to 4-2.
Even if it came against winless Texas Southern (0-9), it was still an encouraging sign for the Shockers to post gaudy offensive numbers after they combined for just seven runs in the season-opening series at Northwestern State.
WSU combined for 21 runs against Texas Southern and had production across the lineup, as Alex Jackson, Couper Cornblum, Kocis and Derek Shaver all finished the series with four hits and Jack Sigrist, Ross Cadena and Cade Clemons all had three hits.
And just like the opening weekend, WSU’s starting pitching delivered again. Senior Preston Snavely was once again superb, striking out nine hitters and allowing two hits and no earned runs in seven innings in the second game on Saturday. Jake Hamilton was again solid on Friday, as he allowed three hits and one earned run while striking out five in five innings.
WSU fell behind 2-0 in Saturday’s first game, but tied the score in the bottom of the fourth inning when Clemons blasted a two-run shot to center field. An RBI triple by Cornblum gave WSU a 3-2 lead in the sixth, then the Shockers tacked on four insurance runs.
It was all WSU in the nightcap, as Kocis drilled an RBI triple and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Clemons for a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Kocis hit a three-run home run in the sixth, then Jackson delivered an RBI single for a 7-0 lead.
WSU is back in action on Tuesday at Eck Stadium when it plays Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 3 p.m.
This story was originally published February 23, 2020 at 12:34 PM.
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