Eric Wedge already has Wichita State baseball back in national recruiting rankings
It didn’t take long for Eric Wedge to restore Wichita State baseball to among the top recruiting programs in the nation.
In just the second full-cycle recruiting class prepared by Wedge and his assistants, pitching coach Mike Pelfrey and recruiting coordinator Mike Sirianni, WSU was ranked by Perfect Game with the No. 32 recruiting class in the country for the class of 2022. It is the highest-rated recruiting class for the Shockers since the No. 21-rated 2015 class that included six MLB draft picks.
Many of WSU’s 2022 pledges signed their letters of intent this week, as the early fall signing period kicked off on Wednesday. In the Perfect Game rankings, WSU has the second-best recruiting class in the American Athletic Conference, behind only No. 28-ranked South Florida.
The highlight, at least for Pelfrey, is WSU signing two top-100 pitchers in the class in Austin Henry, a 6-foot-5 right-hander from Dell Rapids, South Dakota, and Ashton Izzi, a 6-foot-3 right-hander from Plainfield, Illinois.
Wedge is also making it a priority to bring in more in-state recruits, as Maize outfielder Jaden Gustafson and Shawnee Mission East infielder Tate Moody are both among the commitments in the 2022 class.
WSU also landed other nationally ranked prospects in Jack Little, a middle infielder from Katy, Texas who has already signed, and Reese Ratchford, the top-rated catcher in Oklahoma who is committed.
Due to the fluidity of college baseball recruiting, the Shockers plan to release their full recruiting class at a later date.
Wichita State softball adds infield, pitching depth with 2021 class
The class is headlined by Taylor Sedlacek, a middle infielder from Bennington, Nebraska who is rated as a top-100 recruit in the class by Extra Elite Ranking. She was recently named to the first team super state team in Nebraska after hitting .457 with 23 extra-base hits, including 11 home runs, 19 stolen bases and 52 runs scored.
Sami Hood, an infielder from Allen, Texas, was a conference player of the year and also earned an all-metro nod in the Dallas area. She hit .348 with 11 home runs, 36 RBIs, 43 runs scored and 32 stolen bases as a junior, setting the single-season school records in seven different categories.
WSU also signed two in-state prospects in Siera Hoekstra, an infielder at Shawnee Mission North, and Sarah Proberts, a pitcher at Olathe South. The Shockers also added another middle infielder in Lake Villa, Illinois native C.C. Fleming.
After enjoying a standout career from Madison Perrigan, WSU went back to Mustang, Oklahoma to sign another catcher in Cassie Passwaters, who is coming off a monster junior year where she hit .588 with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs.
With WSU’s top two pitchers, Caitlin Bingham and Erin McDonald, set to graduate, Bredbenner will add two incoming freshmen in Proberts and Midland, Texas product Alex Aguilar to join a trio of current freshmen on the pitching staff.
WSU is set to graduate five players from this upcoming year’s roster: its top two pitchers plus Neleigh Herring (first base), Arielle James (second base) and Wylie Glover (outfielder).
Shocker volleyball adds two in early signing period
Chris Lamb got the signing party going early in the fall for WSU, which inked two players in the fall signing period for its 2022 recruiting class. The Shockers are set to graduate just two players from the current season’s roster.
WSU signed Katie Galligan, a libero from Omaha who was named an Under Armour 2021 All-American after averaging 4.1 digs per set. Galligan helped lead her school, Elkhorn South, to a state championship in 2020.
“Right off the bat, what jumped out to me about Katie is that she just always seemed to be around the ball,” Lamb told GoShockers.com. “She hunts well, she’s long and fast, and shows us great floor skills. When you watch her, it seems like there’s nothing more important to her than the game; she’s highly invested and it’s really easy to fall in love with watching her play volleyball.”
WSU’s other fall signee was Emerson Wilford, a 6-2 outside hitter from Laguna Hills, California. She recently led her team, Beckman, to its third straight league title and was named league MVP.
“Emerson has been on our radar since her freshman year,” Lamb told GoShockers.com. “I haven’t seen many girls this talented and this physically gifted playing at the level she did on a good Southern California club team. We just had this feeling with how committed she is to her strength and conditioning that she’s going to get there, and we believe in a year or two Emerson is going to connect a lot of dots and be an important player in our program.”
Wichita State men’s tennis nabs a five-star recruit
WSU men’s tennis coach Danny Bryan struck recruiting gold when he was able to land five-star prospect Luke Bracks, a Tulsa native who is the top-rated player from Oklahoma and a top-50 national prospect in the class of 2022.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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