Wichita State baseball wins at No. 13 Arizona Wildcats for best win of Eric Wedge era
The Wichita State baseball team picked up the marquee win of the Eric Wedge era on Friday evening when the Shockers prevailed 10-9 over No. 13 Arizona in Tucson.
Thanks to five straight scoreless innings from the bullpen and a go-ahead, 2-out RBI double from Ross Cadena in the seventh inning, the Shockers were able to knock off a top-10 team in the RPI on its home field. WSU has won six of its last seven games and improved to 7-4 overall.
“When you win a ball game like that, you collectively understand that you can play with anybody,” WSU coach Eric Wedge said. “We made some mistakes along the way, but it was a great win for us. You talk about the energy, the attitude, the toughness, the fight they had. I was really proud of the guys.”
WSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Couper Cornblum, Cadena and Jack Sigrist all delivered RBI hits. But Arizona touched up WSU starter Spencer Hynes for six runs in the second and third innings to roar back for a 6-5 lead.
The Shockers capitalized on a rare five-error performance from Arizona by scoring six unearned runs. With Arizona leading 9-8 entering the seventh inning, WSU tied the game in the top-half of the inning on a throwing error that plated Corrigan Bartlett and then Cadena delivered the go-ahead RBI double to plate David VanVooren for the 10-9 lead.
Bartlett and Cadena were the only Shockers with multi-hit games, as both scored twice and Cadena driving in a team-high three runs.
“We had some clutch hitting from some of our guys in the middle and late in the ball game,” said Wedge, who earned his first career ejection halfway through the game. “If you’re going to beat a top team in the country, you’ve got to be firing on all cylinders and everybody has to contribute whether it’s offensively, defensively or on the mound. We showed a lot of grit.”
The difference in the game was the bullpen performance highlighted by Ryan Stuempfig, Tommy Barnhouse and Aaron Haase, who combined to shut out Arizona for the final five innings of the game. Stuempfig picked up the win after throwing three scoreless innings from the fifth to seventh innings, while Barnhouse escaped a jam in the eighth inning for the hold and Haase sent Arizona down in order in the ninth inning for the save.
WSU will play a Saturday doubleheader in Tucson, playing Air Force at 1 p.m. and then a rubber match against Arizona at 7 p.m.
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