‘We want to win’: Wichita State has path of redemption in AAC baseball tournament
There is a path of redemption for the Wichita State baseball team in the American Athletic Conference tournament that starts Tuesday in Clearwater, Fla. at BayCare Ballpark.
Following an 18-13 season in conference play, the Shockers earned the No. 3 seed in the double-elimination bracket that has them in the same pod as No. 2 Tulane, No. 6 South Florida and No. 7 Houston with the winner advancing to Sunday’s championship game.
WSU won’t be short on motivation in the rematch against USF, the lower-seeded team that came to Eck Stadium earlier this month and split with the Shockers to end their hopes of an at-large berth into an NCAA Regional and create the must-win situation this week in Florida to extend their season.
If the Shockers win that game, it will likely face Tulane on Thursday — another chance for a do-over against the only team in the AAC that swept them this season.
“We want to win the tournament, but the only way we’re going to do that is to put everything into Tuesday and don’t look beyond that first pitch of the first inning of the first game,” WSU coach Eric Wedge said. “A lot of these guys haven’t been in this situation before, but they’re confident. We feel good about how far they’ve come this year and how they worked hard to get better.”
Junior right-hander Liam Eddy (5-7, 5.84 ERA) will start WSU’s first game on Tuesday night, which will begin 47 minutes after the end of the Tulane-Houston game that starts at 3 p.m. C.T. All AAC tournament games this week will be streamed online at ESPN+, while Sunday’s championship game will be a TV broadcast on ESPNews.
Wedge declined to name who the second game starter would be for the Shockers, although it’s likely to be freshman Jace Kaminska (7-1, 2.52 ERA) in either an elimination game on Wednesday or a winner’s bracket game on Thursday. Kaminska was named the AAC Newcomer Pitcher of the Year and a first team all-conference pitcher on Monday.
Regardless of who Wedge ends up going with, he said WSU’s success this week will revolve around the performances on the mound.
“It’s all going to start with our starting pitching,” Wedge said. “They’re going to have to give us a chance to win the game. We’re going to need a solid outing, whether that’s making sure we’re only down a run or two or we’re up a run or two, we’re going to need them to give us a chance to win the game.”
For the first time since joining the conference in 2018, the Shockers enter the AAC tournament with a top-half seed. WSU was the No. 7 seed in 2018 and the No. 8 seed in 2019 after winning just nine AAC games, which puts in perspective how impressive the Shockers’ 18-win campaign has been this spring.
WSU also placed a record five of its players on the AAC’s all-conference team, including Kaminska, reliever Aaron Haase, first baseman Garrett Kocis, third baseman Paxton Wallace and outfielder Corrigan Bartlett.
The Shockers (30-21) were even in the discussion for an NCAA Regionals at-large bid entering May. That alone is a step in the right direction of trying to return the program to its first postseason since 2013.
If this week doesn’t end in a win, Wedge will still have plenty to be proud of in his first full season as manager. But he thinks the Shockers have the potential to make one last push for postseason play this week.
“What we accomplished already this season is something worthy of notice,” Wedge said. “We’ve made significant improvements this year from the recent past and we just had five guys make the all-conference team. That’s a big step in the right direction. I’m proud of the way this team has won different types of ball games and competed the way they’ve competed.”
AAC baseball tournament schedule
Note: All times are C.T. and all games are streamed on ESPN+.
Tuesday
Game 1: No. 5 Central Florida vs. No. 4 Cincinnati, 9 a.m.
Game 2: No. 8 Memphis vs. No. 1 East Carolina, 47 minutes after Game 1
Game 3: No. 7 Houston vs. No. 2 Tulane, 3 p.m.
Game 4: No. 6 South Florida vs. No. 3 Wichita State, 47 minutes after Game 3
Wednesday
Game 5: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 6: Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 47 minutes after Game 5
Thursday
Game 7: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 8: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 47 minutes after Game 7
Friday
Game 9: Winner of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 7, Noon
Game 10: Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 8, 47 minutes after Game 9
Saturday
Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9, 8 a.m.
Game 12: Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10, 47 minutes after Game 11
Game 13 (if necessary): Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11, TBD
Game 14 (if necessary): Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12, TBD
Sunday
Game 15: Pod winners, 11 a.m. (ESPNews)
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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