‘Anything can happen’: Wichita State baseball ready to make an NCAA Regional push
It was only two weeks ago when Wichita State’s baseball season seemingly teetered on the edge of disappointment.
The Shockers began American Athletic Conference play with a 7-1 record, but squandered their strong start by losing six of their next seven conference games on the road. And with a home series against a top-10 team in East Carolina on deck, things could have gotten worse.
Instead, WSU battled to earn a split with the Pirates and followed that up with a series win at Central Florida this past weekend to shoot back up to third place in the AAC standings. Now the Shockers (25-18, 13-10 American) have two home series against teams lower than them in the standings to finish off the regular season, starting with Friday’s doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. against South Florida.
“This is a close group, a tough group,” WSU manager Eric Wedge said. “They show up every day and work hard. It doesn’t always turn out the way we want, but these guys have continued to get better every day and become more consistent. We have another opportunity to make some more progress on Friday and we’re still looking to be more consistent, but this last weekend was a good push in the right direction.”
While WSU is currently projected on the outside looking in for a postseason berth, the Shockers’ RPI has climbed to No. 53 nationally following the weekend wins in Orlando. The strength of WSU’s resume is on three top-15 victories, which include the two over No. 15 ECU and a 10-9 road win over No. 7 Arizona in March.
While wins over South Florida (No. 146 RPI) and Memphis (No. 212 RPI) won’t strengthen WSU’s resume at the top, racking up wins over bottom-half AAC teams will only help WSU’s overall ranking.
A strong performance at the conference tournament in Clearwater, Florida at the end of May could push the Shockers into the NCAA Tournament. Wedge knows the ultimate goal is to return WSU to an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2013, but that’s not the focus of the team right now.
“We understand that our goal is to get to the postseason because then anything can happen in the postseason,” Wedge said. “But the reality is we have to have a good week of practice and we’ve got to come prepared to play come Friday. For us, it’s about keeping our minds on the moment and keeping our feet on the ground. We’re doing a great job of that so far.”
WSU certainly did that in Sunday’s thrilling, come-from-behind 7-6 victory at Central Florida. After the Knights rallied for a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning, the Shockers tied the game in the eighth inning, then rallied for the win in the ninth when Paxton Wallace reached on a lead-off walk, then was brought home by a sacrifice fly from Corrigan Bartlett. Aaron Haase closed out the game for WSU with a scoreless final two innings.
Junior designated hitter Hunter Gibson was chosen AAC player of the week for the first time in his career after hitting a team-best .500, including two home runs and a team-high eight runs batted in, during the four games in Orlando. WSU freshman starting pitcher Jace Kaminska also earned honor roll mention after improving to 6-0 on the mound in WSU’s run-rule 11-1 win from last Friday.
Not only is WSU starting to produce in wins, but the team is also taking care of all of the little things that Wedge and the coaching staff stress on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s about today, but it’s also about the big picture,” Wedge said. “Ultimately, we want to take care of both sides of that. I love the way they’re getting better and focusing on the process. Again, we’re always striving to be more consistent. The mindset is everything and the players are doing a good job with that.”
While it’s unlikely WSU can make up a five-game difference in the loss column with ECU (15-5) or Tulane (14-5) at the top of the AAC standings, the Shockers can begin to separate themselves from the middle of the pack. WSU (13-10), Cincinnati (13-11), UCF (13-11) and USF (10-10) are all within one game in the loss column.
A good seed in the AAC tournament and a good resume for an NCAA Regional bid are both things the Shockers ultimately want, but Wedge said the team doesn’t talk about those things. Instead, they take things game by game. And it always helps when you’re able to finish the last eight games of the regular season at home.
“We always love playing at Eck Stadium in front of our fans,” Wedge said. “We know we’re in the mix, but our whole mentality is on that first game on Friday. And then we’ll take it from there. We just need to get off to a good start that first game on Friday.”
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