Shocker spring sports update: Wichita State baseball, softball both lose AAC series
The road troubles continued for the Wichita State baseball team this weekend, as the Shockers only managed to win one game from the four-game series at Cincinnati.
After a strong start in American Athletic Conference play, bolstered by a 7-1 record against Houston, WSU (20-15, 8-7 American) has now lost six of seven games on the road the past two weekends.
The highlight against Cincinnati came in Saturday’s 6-1 victory with another gem from freshman starter Jace Kaminska, who improved to 4-0 in four starts with only one earned run allowed in 26.2 innings. On Saturday, Kaminska didn’t allow an earned run in 5 2/3 innings and struck out six batters to give the Shockers their only win of the weekend.
At the plate, Jack Sigrist, Couper Cornblum Corrigan Bartlett, Ross Cadena and Cooper Elliot all drove in runs.
After WSU lost Friday’s doubleheader, 6-0 and 12-2 in seven innings, the Shockers were competitive in Sunday’s finale but ultimately fell, 6-5, when Cincinnati edged ahead with a run in the seventh inning. Cadena brought the Shockers back in the game with a grand slam in the third inning, while Sigrist tied the game at 5 in the fourth inning.
Although WSU returns home for a four-game conference series this upcoming weekend, things won’t get much easier with top-10 East Carolina coming to Eck Stadium. Play starts with a Friday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
The WSU softball team also only managed to win one game from its conference series this weekend, as the Shockers dropped three of four to South Florida to relinquish their command of first place in the American.
While the offense is on pace to break several records, WSU’s bats went silent against USF’s pitching in a 2-1 loss on Friday, a 3-0 loss Saturday and an 8-1 loss Sunday. The lone win came in Saturday’s first game in a 14-3 victory where the Shockers exploded for five home runs from Madison Perrigan (twice), Addison Barnard, Bailey Urban and Camryn Compton.
The Shockers (33-9-1, 15-4-1 American) will host No. 11 Oklahoma State at Wilkins Stadium for a 6 p.m. Tuesday game before traveling to conference leader Tulsa (21-10, 12-3 American) for a decisive four-game series starting Friday in what will be WSU’s final conference series of the season.
Men’s tennis picks up ranked win, awaits NCAA Tournament bid
The WSU men’s tennis team was already a likely NCAA Tournament team before the start of the AAC tournament in Orlando, but the No. 33-ranked Shockers felt like they removed any doubt they belonged by knocking off No. 32 Memphis, 4-3, in the quarterfinals.
Even with a 4-0 loss to No. 11 Central Florida in the AAC tournament semifinals, the Shockers (15-8) expect to hear their name called for the first time since 2016 during the NCAA tournament selection show on May 3.
After losing out on the doubles point to Memphis, the Shockers came through in singles play. Murkel Dellien defeated Memphis’ No. 60-ranked top singles player in straight sets, while Stefan Latinovic and Nicolas Acevedo both won to set up freshman Luka Mrsic to clinch the match with a dramatic third-set, tiebreaker victory.
The WSU women’s tennis team saw its season conclude in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament to No. 40 SMU, 4-0, in Orlando this past Friday. The Shockers finished the season with a 10-16 record.
While SMU won the doubles point, the highlight of the meet for the Shockers came from their senior doubles team of Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva and Marta Bellucco who picked up their third ranked win of the season by defeating SMU’s No. 67-ranked doubles team in the top slot.
Men’s golf sophomore finishes second at AAC tournament
Sophomore Marcus Wochner notched the best finish at the AAC tournament in WSU men’s golf history, as he finished in a three-way tie for second place in Brooksville, Fla on Sunday with a three-round score of 8-under, 208.
Wochner entered Sunday’s final road with a three-shot lead over the field after shooting a tournament-low round of 66 on Friday and holding steady on Saturday with a round of 70. But the Denmark native couldn’t stave off South Florida’s Albin Begstrom, who surged in front with a final-round score of 66 to win by three strokes.
It was a season-best performance from Wochner in a loaded field that included four nationally ranked golfers.
His performance also helped WSU notch a fourth-place finish as a team, an impressive feat considering the Shockers were in last place in the eight-team field after the first day. Frank Thomas (217, 15th) and Zac Owens (218, 17th) both notched top-20 finishes, while Brock Pohill (223) and Dawson Lewis (226) rounded out the team.
The WSU women’s golf team saw its season come to a close at the AAC tournament at Pinehurst, N.C. The Shockers finished in 10th place in the 10-team field, while Derby native Kenni Henson shot a team-best, three-round score of 22-over par to finish in a tie for 40th place.
Track team logs a pair of top-10 NCAA marks
A pair of Wichita State track and field athletes are top 10 nationally in their respective events following this weekend’s performances at the John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Rebekah Topham (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Michael Bryan (hammer throw) both improved upon their career-best performances to move into the NCAA’s top-10 lists for this season.
Topham dominated the women’s steeplechase to win with a meet-record time of 9 minutes, 58.39 seconds and move into No. 10 on the national leaderboard.
Bryan broke the program’s hammer throw record for the fourth time this spring, topping his previous mark by 30 centimeters with a throw of 231 feet an 1 inch. He finished runner-up in the event and improved to No. 7 nationally.
Other highlights for the Shockers from Saturday’s performances included Nicole McMillen running a personal-best time of 10:21.09 in the steeplechase to move up to the fifth-best time in program history, Cassidy Androff throwing the seventh-best women’s hammer throw (171-9) of all-time and Kendra Henry winning the women’s javelin (157-2) with the third-best mark in conference this season.
After finishing up Sunday in Arkansas, WSU will be in action again next Friday at the Rock Chalk Classic in Lawrence. The Shockers will compete in the AAC Outdoor Championships in Tampa from May 14-16 with NCAA West Regionals beginning in College Station, Texas on May 27.
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