‘Something to prove:’ Wichita State baseball hungry for a bounce-back season
After arguably the worst season in its modern history, the Wichita State baseball team isn’t trying to explain away last season.
WSU coach Brian Green and the seven returners from last season’s 20-36 debacle have confronted it head-on and owned it. The Shockers have worn it, talked about it and used it as fuel.
Now comes the response.
Wichita State opens the 2026 season Friday with a four-game home series against Northern Colorado at Eck Stadium, the program’s first season-opening home series in five years, carrying a clear internal theme. All games will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast live on KFH, 97.5-FM.
- Game 1: 3:05 p.m. Friday. RHP Trevor Landen vs. RHP Brady Hamilton.
- Game 2: 12:05 p.m. Saturday. RHP Reece Wagner vs. RHP Johnny Nuanez.
- Game 3: TBA Saturday. RHP Jake Storey vs. TBA.
- Game 4: 12:05 p.m. Sunday. TBA vs. RHP Brok Eddy.
“We go into this year with ‘Something to prove’ as our mantra and we truly do,” Green said. “I truly do. Everybody’s got something to prove within our program. We’re excited to go out and chase that down.”
Green enters his third season at the helm with pressure he openly acknowledges after the first downright disappointing year in his 11-year coaching career. WSU is 52-65 overall and 26-28 in conference play in his first two seasons, but last year’s slide triggered sweeping changes — in personnel, process and culture.
Only seven players return from the 2025 roster. The pitching staff brings back just two arms who logged innings. The rest of the roster has been rebuilt through the transfer portal and junior-college ranks, as Green intentionally targeted experience over projection. The Shockers added 31 newcomers with a combined 77 seasons of prior college baseball experience, including four graduate transfers, eight seniors and three redshirt juniors.
“What excites the coaching staff the most is the experience that we bring in,” Green said. “We can have a conversation about things with guys who have multiple seasons underneath their belt and hitters who have 150 to 200 at bats coming into the season. So our team feels old and I’m really excited about that.”
The coaching staff also looks different. Green largely cleaned house, bringing in three new assists in Marty Lees (recruiting coordinator), Collin Wilber (catching coach) and Jason Fosters (pitching strategist and director of analytics).
But Green said the most important shift wasn’t tactical. It was cultural.
“With so much transition year to year, I had to do a better job of defining what we’re about as a program,” Green said. “That culture piece is really going to improve our program. I feel like I failed at that last year and that’s why I feel like we’ve got a really positive alignment with the culture of our group this year.”
In an era when bailing on a bad situation is the default move for so many, Green said the seven players who stayed have helped set the tone for the reset.
“What I’m so appreciative of these returners is their integrity and their desire to make Wichita State great again,” Green said. “They mean it. We didn’t have a great season last year, but from day one, these guys have held the locker room to a standard that we’re not going to go through that again. We’re not going to have entitlement. We’re going to put Wichita State first.
“It’s so easy in today’s era, with the opportunities that you have for all of us, just to say, ‘I’m out,’” Green said. “These guys went, ‘No, no, no.’ Not only are we coming back, but we’re going to fix this thing. That just makes me really proud and I want to see greatness for these guys so bad.”
One of those returners is senior Jaden Gustafson, a Maize graduate who said leaving never seriously crossed his mind.
“There was never really any thoughts about leaving,” Gustafson said. “I’m a Wichita kid. There’s some unfinished stuff I have here. I don’t like the way last season ended and the taste that left in our mouth. I’m ready to come back and end it on a better note.”
Gustafson said last year’s team too often faded at the first sign of trouble.
“Last year, when things went wrong, we kind of laid down instead of fight,” Gustafson said. “I’ve always been the type of person when things don’t go right, you got to get up and fight. I think we’ve got a lot of guys who have that same mentality.”
Green expects fans to see a more athletic and aggressive brand of baseball immediately with more speed on the bases and more thump in the lineup, driven in part by a transfer class that includes several former blue-chip recruits. Among them are third baseman Jayson Jones (Oklahoma State), catcher Max Kaufer (South Carolina) and shortstop Alex Ulloa (Florida International), each of whom arrived with significant recruiting pedigree and college experience.
Returners Zeb Henry at second base and outfielders Kaleb Duncan and Owen Washburn are expected to play prominent roles this season, while junior-college transfers Nolan Ganter and M.J. Sweeney at first base and outfielders Jack Quick, Jacob Gutierrez, Josh Wulfert and Anthony Cepeda should also see steady playing time. After a decorated career at Pittsburg State, Wichita native Drew Bugner is also expected to contribute in a utility role.
“It’s going to be a completely different look,” Green promised. “More talented, more athletic. You’re going to see a team that’s going to run more. We’ll probably double and a half our power if I do my job as a hitting coach.”
The pitching staff will set the tone right away with a familiar name. Right-hander Brady Hamilton, the top returning arm from last season, gets the opening-day start Friday after posting a 2-7 record with a 5.38 ERA last season.
He echoed Gustafon’s sentiments that leaving was never a choice for him.
“I can’t stand losing,” Hamilton said. “I’m a pretty competitive player. So if I’m going to come back and be on this team, we’re going to have a good team. I had a conversion with BG in the summer and it was like, ‘This team is going to be good this year. There’s no other option.’”
Hamilton will be followed this weekend by Grossmont College transfer Johnny Nuanez in Saturday’s doubleheader opener with another arm to be determined in the nightcap, while Blinn College All-American Brok Eddy is scheduled for Sunday’s finale.
Other arms to watch include left-hander Reese Kortum out of Fort Scott, right-hander Matthew Cuccias, a California junior-college ace, and prized freshman lefty Ethan Rogers, along with Derby product Mitchell Johnson, a left-hander who pitched at Cowley College last season. The staff also features Northwestern transfer Amar Tsengeg, Georgia Southern transfer Brady Owens, Australian right-hander Ryan Morrison, returning senior righty Karsen Richard and junior-college transfer Caleb Reed, all of whom are expected to compete for bullpen roles and early-season innings.
The schedule is structured to help a new roster come together quickly. WSU will play 21 of its first 26 games at home and 33 total home games, its most since 2016, with an emphasis on four-game series designed to reduce midweek travel and increase developmental time on campus.
Inside the program, the message is blunt and repeated daily. The Shockers believe they have something to prove and they get their first chance to show it Friday.
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