How Eric Wedge wants WSU baseball to respond after two losses to Oklahoma State
For the first time in nearly a year, the Wichita State baseball team returned to action, opening the season with a home series against No. 17 Oklahoma State.
While WSU lost 3-1 on Sunday and 14-6 on Monday, manager Eric Wedge was excited for the Shockers to finally be playing an opponent. And by facing a top-20 team, WSU has plenty to learn from its first two games of the 2021 season.
After Monday’s game, Wedge was already looking forward to how WSU would adjust its practices before playing again on Friday, when the Shockers open a three-game series at Eck Stadium against SIU Edwardsville.
“You can gain a lot to work off of with two games, both from the plus and minus standpoint,” Wedge said. “We’ll do some things differently this week from a practice standpoint because we do have a couple of real games to work off of, both offensively and defensively and even from a pitching standpoint. We’ve got a great coaching staff and we’re very creative, and we’ll work all the way through to Thursday and play on Friday.”
There were plenty of encouraging signs from the opening two games, despite the losses.
At the plate, the biggest bright spot was Corrigan Bartlett, the Maize native and senior outfielder who transferred this season from Saint Louis. He started both games and finished 5-for-7 at the plate with one run scored and one batted in.
The WSU pitching staff had a solid performance in the first game, a 3-1 loss. After a rocky start from WSU ace Liam Eddy, allowing three runs in the first inning, he settled down to strike out eight in five innings. After the first inning, Eddy combined with the bullpen arms of Ryan Stuempfig and Tommy Barnhouse to shut out OSU in the game’s final eight innings.
“That first inning of the year is always the tough, that’s just the way it works in baseball,” Wedge said. “Credit to him for getting through it and giving us five good innings.
“He gave us every chance to win the ball game and that’s what starting pitchers have got to do.”
The Shockers had more than their fair share of chances to rally for the lead, as they stranded 13 base runners and finished 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. None more painful than when WSU loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, only to strike out, get thrown out at home and strike out again to end the inning.
“That’s the story of the game right there,” Wedge said. “We couldn’t push one across (in the eighth inning). Ultimately, we should have pushed two or three across with one or two hits. We just squandered too many opportunities. We’ll learn from it.”
WSU led 2-0 after three innings in the second game following an RBI triple by Ross Cadena and a RBI single by Couper Cornblum. But OSU tagged WSU starter Spencer Hynes for five runs in the fourth inning and tacked on two more in the fifth for a 7-2 lead.
Wedge was pleased to see the Shockers battle back in the game, as they scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to trim the deficit to 7-6. Cornblum delivered a 2-RBI single, then Cadena and Cade Clemons both brought runners home in the inning.
But WSU’s bullpen couldn’t keep Oklahoma State off the board, as the Cowboys posted crooked numbers in five straight innings to pull away for the 14-6 win. OSU finished the game with 17 hits.
“Obviously the game got away from us in the fourth inning, but we didn’t shut it down,” Wedge said. “We were up 2-0, then down 7-2, then it’s 7-6 and we’re right back in the game. We were in a position to compete all the way through, but they kept putting up twos and threes the next couple innings and that’s a lot to compete with in nine innings. I did like the way our kids came back.”
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