‘Worthy of notice’: Wichita State baseball proud of first season under Eric Wedge
The Wichita State baseball team saw its 2021 season come to an end on Friday in a 12-2 loss to Tulane in the American Athletic Conference tournament in Clearwater, Florida.
In the first full season under manager Eric Wedge, the Shockers compiled a 31-23 record. WSU had several notable accomplishments:
- For the first time since joining the conference in 2018, the Shockers entered the AAC tournament with a top-half seed. WSU was the No. 7 seed in 2018 and No. 8 seed in 2019 after winning just nine AAC games, which gives perspective on how impressive WSU’s jump to a No. 3 seed following an 18-win season in conference was this spring.
- WSU placed a record five players on the AAC’s all-conference first team, including freshman starter Jace Kaminska, reliever Aaron Haase, first baseman Garrett Kocis, third baseman Paxton Wallace and outfielder Corrigan Bartlett.
- The Shockers were even in the discussion for an NCAA Regionals at-large bid entering the month of May. While WSU’s postseason hopes have since been dashed, it was a step in the right direction of trying to return the program to its first postseason since 2013.
“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.”
The encouraging news is that WSU only graduates four seniors: outfielder Corrigan Bartlett and pitchers Preston Snavely, Tommy Barnhouse and Gareth Stroh.
It is unclear what juniors who are seniors academically, like Wallace, Garrett Kocis, Ross Cadena, Liam Eddy and Hunter Gibson, will choose to do for next season. But if that core returns for a final year with the Shockers, they should be back in contention for a top spot in the AAC standings.
This story was originally published May 30, 2021 at 2:24 PM.
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