Brian Green embraces elevated expectations for Wichita State baseball in second year
In his first season with the Wichita State baseball team, coach Brian Green was content with the Shockers being the plucky underdogs.
Expectations have changed for Year 2, as Green retained a deep core of players who were one out away from completing a Cinderella run to the program’s first postseason berth in a decade and added several talented players from the transfer portal.
WSU is expected to graduate from underdog to favorite, as evidenced by American Athletic Conference coaches picking the Shockers second in the preseason poll.
That means Green is holding WSU to a different — and higher — standard when the team opens the 2025 season on the road with a 3-game series at McNeese State. Sophomore Brady Hamilton will be the opening day starter for Friday’s 6 p.m. game, while Game 2 is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday and the finale is noon Sunday with all three games streaming on ESPN+.
“I want to see an experienced team take the field and attack our goals and not just winning, but our process goals,” Green said. “How well can our guys, right out of the gate, control the zone at the plate versus having an immature approach?
“Can we do a good job with stealing some bases? Can we be a high-execution team with our bunt game? Our goals are a little bit more process-driven than a year ago and I think our team understands from a process perspective what we want to do and how we want to do it.”
While WSU returned just 11 total players from its 2024 roster following a coaching change, Green managed to retain nine position players with double-digit starts and nine pitchers who appeared in eight contests or more. Not only are more players familiar with Green’s system, the coach feels like he has a larger stable of leaders with so many key returners back like Mauricio Millan, Jordan Rogers, Caleb Anderson, Jaden Gustafson, Josh Livingston and Ryan Callahan.
It was also critical to Green to retain a deep and talented freshmen class from last season, as Camden Johnson, Kam Durnin, Lane Haworth, Hamilton and Tyler Dobbs all figure to play even larger roles as sophomores.
“I think experience really does more for you than skill,” Green said. “It allows you to practice at a different level. Our details, our fundamentals are different. It’s not entirely culture-driven. It’s a little bit more disciplined, fundamental baseball-driven this go-around with this group.”
Pitching is seemingly always the biggest question mark for WSU and that remains the case for this season, as the staff lost a pair of aces in Caden Favors, who graduated, and Tommy LaPour, who left via the transfer portal.
While Hamilton, who was 2-3 with a 5.61 earned run average last season, is slated to start Friday’s season opener, it remains to be seen who Green gives the ball to the other two games this weekend. Candidates for the job figure to include a pair of former Shockers who transferred back to the program to close out their careers in Grant Adler and Jace Miner, Siena transfer Arnad Mulamekic, a 6-foot-6 left-handed thrower, and returning sophomore Tyler Dobbs (6-4, 4.55 ERA).
The bullpen figures to be deeper this season with key returners like Hunter Holmes, Caleb Anderson, Jack Mount, Jeremiah Arnett and Drew Iverson back, while newcomers like Aaron Arnold, Karsen Richard, Nick Potter, J.C. Dermody, M.J. Seo and Owen Reynolds should factor in.
“We’re definitely going to be longer on the mound this year,” Green said.
As for the lineup, WSU will be down two key starters for the season-opening series at McNeese State with Millan (wrist) and Durnin (elbow) currently nursing injuries. Green said he will bring both starters back slowly, as Millan is likely going to miss multiple weeks and might not play until the Shockers return home in March.
Meanwhile, Durnin had Tommy John surgery at the start of last summer and has been cleared to return already, but the coaching staff will be careful bringing the sophomore star back.
Even without two starters, WSU’s lineup figures to be potent with top hitters back from last season in Johnson, Rogers, Gustafson, Haworth, Callahan and Livingston. Arizona transfer Cole Dillon figures to replace Millan behind the plate, while Texas Tech transfer Owen Washburn will rotate between second base and right field with Rogers until Durnin is back in the field.
A pair of junior-college transfers should crack the lineup this weekend in Jordan Black (third base) and Kaleb Duncan (center field).
“We’re going to be much more athletic at the plate this year,” Green said. “It was pretty fun last year swinging the bats like we were and just sitting back and hitting doubles and homers. I think you’re going to see this group put the ball on the ground more, you’re going to see more of a presence in the running game and you’re going ot see more action and a more balanced offense.”
Wichita State will be put to the test right away this season, as the Shockers will play a total of eight games in 10 days with a 5-game trip to Hawaii next week with four games at Hawaii (Feb. 20-23) and a single game at Chaminade (Feb. 24). WSU will host Cal State Fullerton for its season-opening series from Feb. 28 to March 2.
With expectations higher than they have been for the program in years, Green isn’t shying away from them.
“In terms of fans getting excited, bring it on,” Green said. “We hope everyone expects us to be good because I know we expect to be good and we know we’ve got a good team. If we can stay healthy and keep our culture in tact and play with a lot of energy, we should be in a lot of baseball games this year.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 5:04 AM.
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