Freshman Jace Kaminska keeps Wichita State baseball’s season alive in AAC tournament
With the season for the Wichita State baseball team on the line, there was no doubt in coach Eric Wedge’s mind that he was turning to freshman Jace Kaminska on the mound for Wednesday’s elimination game against Houston in the American Athletic Conference tournament in Clearwater, Florida.
It’s not often a freshman can handle that type of pressure, but there is a reason why the Caney native and two-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year was named the AAC Newcomer Pitcher of the Year.
Kaminska proved he was once again up for the challenge on Wednesday, helping keep the Shockers’ hopes alive in a 5-3 victory over Houston. Kaminska improved to 8-1 this season after allowing just one earned run on three hits and six strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings.
The third-seeded Shockers (31-22) will play the loser of No. 2 Tulane and No. 6 South Florida at approximately 5:30 p.m. Friday in another elimination game. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
“You never know what to expect with a freshman pitcher, especially when you give him the responsibility that we’ve given Jace,” Wedge said. “But he’s stepped up time and time again. Hopefully we’ll give him another opportunity to step up this weekend. But we’ve got some work to do before we can get back to him. He set a great tone tonight.”
Even though WSU’s season was on the line, Kaminska said he didn’t feel much, if any nerves on the mound in the biggest game of his collegiate career so far.
“I didn’t feel pressure at all. I was actually pretty loose that whole game,” Kaminska said. “For it being that big of a game, I was just loose. The adrenaline wasn’t anything crazy. I knew how important it was, but I don’t know, it was something about today that was different.”
After being buried in an early deficit in a 7-2 loss to South Florida to open the tournament on Tuesday, Kaminska afforded WSU’s offense more time to get going by having a no-hitter through four innings.
The Shockers finally struck in the bottom of the fourth inning when Ross Cadena reached on a leadoff single, then scored on Paxton Wallace’s two-run home run over the left-field fence for his 11th homer of the season.
With Kaminska still dealing on the mound, WSU added three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-0 lead. The Shockers again homered, this time by Hunter Gibson for a two-run shot. Couper Cornblum drove in the third run of the innings, scoring Corrigan Barlett on an RBI single to left field.
“We knew we just had to step up and do our job,” Wallace said. “Last game we struggled a little bit. We faced a good arm and we struggled hitting-wise. (Wednesday) we did what we do and we got the job done.”
“There’s a certain mindset you have to have, but still be able to drop your shoulders and be free and easy,” Wedge said. “We were a little better with that (Wednesday), but I still feel like there’s more in us. When you’ve got a tournament like this where you live and die with every single game, you find out who can step up and handle it and who can’t.”
Kaminska said he was disappointed he couldn’t finish off the complete game, as he was pulled after giving up a solo home run in the ninth inning.
But overall, Kaminska continues to piece together one of the best freshman starting pitching seasons in program history. He now sports a 2.32 earned-run average through 62 innings with 51 strikeouts to only 19 walks. He credited the development of his breaking ball for his success this season.
“When I was in the pen earlier in the year, I didn’t have much of a breaking ball at all,” Kaminska said. “Then I developed one and once I started starting, I’ve really been able to hit my spots. Tonight I felt like I was really good about hitting my spots and then my misses were good for the most part. Now I feel like I can throw three pitches for a strike and that helps a lot.”
WSU still faces an uphill battle to reach Sunday’s championship game. Not only will the Shockers have to win Friday’s game to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament, they would then have to beat the same team twice on Saturday.
It’s unclear if Kaminska could be ready to go again for one of the games on Saturday. But Wedge knows what he can count on if the rotation does get back to him this weekend.
“He’s a much better pitcher now than when he first got here and he was a pretty good guy when he got here,” Wedge said. “He’s made some adjustments and he pitches with a lot of poise and a lot of confidence. He expands the plate because he pitches inside as well as anybody, then he can work the other side of the plate too. He pitches with conviction and he’s a competitor. When he gets on that mound, he’s a bulldog.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 6:05 AM.
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