Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
#16 Oral Roberts (36-11, 20-1 Summit) vs. Wichita State (27-19, 10-7 American)
Tuesday, May 9 | 6:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Joshua Caravalho (5-1, 3.67) vs. RHP Grant Adler (4-3, 2.64)
SCENE SETTER: Wichita State returns to the friendly confines of Eck Stadium for the final homestand of the 2023 season, beginning Tuesday night with a midweek matchup against Oral Roberts. The Shockers and Golden Eagles are meeting for the third time this season, with ORU claiming the first two matchups by scores of 6-5 and 5-2. Wichita State is coming off a pair of losses over the weekend in Houston, dropping Friday's contest 5-3 before a late rally on Saturday fell short in a 7-5 defeat. Sunday's series finale was canceled due to rain, meaning that the Shockers are currently alone in third place in the American Athletic Conference standings. WSU trails Houston by two full games and East Carolina by a game and a half due to the canceled series finale against the Cougars. With seven games still to play, WSU has already bested their win total from a season ago when the Shockers went 21-36. Wichita State is hunting their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since the 2013 season, a regional bid that was later vacated by the NCAA.
SHOCKER BASEBALL ON THE RADIO AND ESPN PLUS: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM will once again serve as the radio home for Wichita State baseball broadcasts in 2023. "The Voice of the Shockers" and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will have the call against Oral Roberts. Tuesday's contest and all other home games this season will also be streamed live on ESPN+ ($). Former Shocker pitcher (1991-94) and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Shane Dennis will have the call of the action on Tuesday. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available for all games at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com.
SERIES HISTORY: Tuesday represents the 73rd all-time meeting between the Shockers and Golden Eagles, with Wichita State holding a 39-33 lead in the series. Oral Roberts has won both games between the two teams this season, a wild 6-5 thriller on March 7 in Wichita and a 5-2 decision on March 21 in Tulsa. In the first meeting, WSU trailed 5-0 into the bottom of the sixth inning before rallying to put the tying and winning runs on base in the ninth. Golden Eagles closer Cade Denton escaped the jam when David Herring's deep fly ball was run down in center field by ORU's Jonah Cox. The second matchup was tied 2-2 into the bottom of the sixth, but Oral Roberts scored the eventual winning runs when Blaze Brothers doubled and came all the way around to score on a Wichita State error. This year's schedule is the first time since the 2013 campaign that Wichita State and Oral Roberts will play one another three times in a season. WSU and ORU have also met seven times in NCAA tournament play, with the Golden Eagles holding a 4-3 edge in postseason contests.
SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS: Oral Roberts enters play on Tuesday as one of the hottest teams in all of college baseball, winners of eight straight games and 26 of their last 29 for an overall record of 36-11. The Golden Eagles are ranked as high as #16 in the national polls (Collegiate Baseball) and have already locked up their 20th Summit League regular season championship with a 20-1 conference record. Only a loss to North Dakota State on April 22 has denied Oral Roberts an unblemished mark in Summit League play. ORU is led by one of the nation's most dynamic players in Jonah Cox, who has recorded a hit in all but one game this season and is currently riding a 31-game hitting streak. Cox leads the country with 85 hits and ranks third nationally with seven triples. Expected starter Joshua Caravalho has limited Wichita State to just one run over 10 innings in two starts this season. The Golden Eagles have the second-best fielding percentage in the nation at .984, committing just 27 errors. Head coach Ryan Folmar is in his 11th season at the helm of the Golden Eagles, boasting a record of 355-221.
DYNAMIC DUO: The potent middle of the order combination of Brock Rodden and Garrett Pennington continues to torture opposing pitchers. Both homered in the two-game series at Houston over the weekend, moving into a tie for third place in the American Athletic Conference with 13 home runs apiece. Rodden leads the conference with 53 RBI, while Pennington ranks second with 45. If Pennington can record five RBI over the final seven games of the season, the Shockers will have two players with 50 or more runs batted in for the first time since the 2011 season (Chris O'Brien - 70, Johnny Coy - 59, Preston Springer - 56).
MIDWEEK IMPROVEMENT: Wichita State has gone 5-6 in midweek games this season, notching wins against Kansas State (2x), Oklahoma (2x), and Oklahoma State, . The Shockers went just 3-10 in midweek action a year ago, and did not win a single such contest on the road.
CUTTING DOWN ON THE CHARITY: Shocker pitchers have had occasional issues this season hitting opposing batters, including a stretch of eight games from late March to early April in which WSU hit four batters in a game three times. Recently, however, WSU has dramatically cut down on those free passes; Wichita State hurlers have not hit a batter in the last 91 innings dating back to the game at Kansas State on April 18.
REHAB COMPLETE: One of the bright spots from this past weekend in Houston was the return of left-handed pitcher Austin Wallace, who made his season debut with a scoreless eighth inning on Saturday. It was the first outing for Wallace in more than 400 days after he injured his arm last spring in a game against Kansas on March 30. The southpaw struck out the first batter he faced on Saturday, then pitched around a two-out single to keep Houston off the board.
SERVING UP MCDONALD: Junior outfielder Kyte McDonald returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing the last two games due to injury and picked up right where he left off, recording a base hit in his first at-bat. That knock extended his streak of consecutive at-bats reaching base to nine, the longest such streak for a Shocker since Tyler Weber set the school record by reaching base 12 straight times in 2007. McDonald was retired in his final three at-bats, but has still raised his batting average 39 points over the last nine games.
PITCHING TURNAROUND: Pitching coach Mike Pelfrey and interim head coach Loren Hibbs have completely revamped the Shocker arms in 2023, trimming nearly two full runs off the Wichita State era as compared to a season ago (5.97 to 4.17). The Shockers enter play on Tuesday 25th in the country in ERA thanks to a pitching staff littered with strike-throwers; WSU ranks 15th nationally in walks per nine innings (3.35) and 11th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.84:1).
EVERYBODY RUNS: With 71 steals as a team, the Shockers are getting baserunning production from up and down the lineup. Kyte McDonald (16), Chuck Ingram (11), Jack Little (10) and Brock Rodden (10) all have double-digit steals, the first time that four individual Shockers have recorded 10 or more steals in a season since 2012 (Erik Harbutz, Tanner Dearman, Garrett Bayliff and Taylor Doggett).
DOUBLE UP: Head coach Loren Hibbs made no secret of his desire for the Shockers to hit more doubles in 2023, believing the stat represents a good offensive approach and aggressive baserunning. The Shockers have lived up to that expectation this season, leading the American Athletic Conference and ranking 38th nationally with 103 team two-baggers. WSU has nine players with six or more doubles.