Baseball Preview: Louisiana Tech – Wichita State Athletics

Wichita State (6-11, 0-0 American) vs. Louisiana Tech (9-8, 0-0 Conference USA)

Friday, March 14 | 6:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Grant Adler (1-0, 3.13) vs. RHP Grant Hubka (2-2, 2.79)

Saturday, March 15 | 2:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Brady Hamilton (1-1, 5.79) vs. LHP Luke Cooley (3-1, 2.89)

Sunday, March 16 | 1:00 pm CT | Wichita, Kansas (Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

SCENE SETTER: Wichita State heads back to Eck Stadium for the final series of non-conference play, hosting Louisiana Tech for a three-game set beginning on Friday night. WSU is coming off a pair of road losses in the midweek at Nebraska, falling 10-1 on Tuesday and 5-4 on Wednesday night. The Shockers are coming off a 32-29 season in 2024 that included a 15-12 mark in American Athletic Conference play, tying for third in the final conference standings. WSU went on to reach the championship game of the AAC Tournament for the first time in program history, falling to Tulane, 11-10. 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 2025. Denning Gerig will have the call for all three games against Louisiana Tech. The games will also be streamed on ESPN+ ($), with Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Shane Dennis on play-by-play and former Shocker outfielder Corrigan Bartlett as color commentator. Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Bulldogs have a brief but interesting series history that dates back only to the 2017 season. The two programs have played three three-game series, and all three have resulted in home sweeps for an all-time record of 6-3 in favor of Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs swept the first meeting in Ruston in 2017 (6-2, 15-1, 12-10), then the Shockers got a measure of revenge with a three-game sweep in Wichita in 2020 (6-2, 5-3, 10-9) before Louisiana Tech opened the 2022 season with yet another sweep (7-3, 9-6, 5-3). The series in 2020 represented the last games played by Wichita State that season before the remainder of the slate was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

SCOUTING LOUISIANA TECH: Louisiana Tech brings a 9-8 overall record to Wichita after a 9-5 defeat at Oklahoma on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs have already thrown three shutouts this season, though all three have been seven innings: February 15 vs. Maine (4-0), March 4 vs. Nicholls (19-0) and March 5 vs. Nicholls (10-0). 13 of Louisiana Tech’s 17 games have been at home in Ruston, where they are 8-5 at Pat Patterson Park, affectionately known as The Love Shack. Starters Grant Hubka (2-2, 2.79) and Luke Cooley (3-1, 2.89) lead the way for the Bulldogs, while closer Blake Hooks is top-10 nationally with four saves. Head coach Lane Burroughs just won his 400th career game last weekend, bringing an overall record of 400-282 into the series over his 13 seasons as a head coach. Burroughs spent four seasons at Northwestern State before taking over at Louisiana Tech.

WHIFF WOES: A major contributing factor to Wichita State’s offensive struggles at Nebraska was a high volume of strikeouts. The Shockers punched out 14 and 11 times, respectively, in the two games against the Huskers after striking out 10 times or less in each of the first 15 games of the season. Of the 25 combined strikeouts in the midweek series, 11 were looking at strike three.

IN A PINCH: Wichita State has found success going to their bench for pinch-hitters in 2025. The Shockers are 7-for-23 (.304) in pinch-hitting opportunities after going 14-for-57 (.246) off the bench last season. Junior Jaden Gustafson leads the way with three hits in four at-bats, including a clutch, two-out RBI single in Sunday’s comeback win over Missouri State.

SMALL BALL: With just six home runs through the first 17 games of the season, Brian Green has turned to the small ball approach more consistently in an attempt to generate offense. The Shockers lead the American Athletic Conference and rank 14th nationally with 13 sacrifice bunts this season, including three apiece from Jordan Black, Ryan Callahan and Jordan Rogers.

ON THE RUN: The Wichita State running game was virtually nonexistent in the early weeks of the 2025 season, as the Shockers were 0-for-5 in attempted stolen bases through nine games. Since then, WSU has found success on the basepaths; the Shockers are 9-for-9 over the last eight contests, including five total steals in the two-game Nebraska series.

CROWDER TRIO: The backend of the Wichita State bullpen features three hard-throwing right-handers from Crowder College who are all off to strong starts in 2025. The combination of Karsen Richard, Aaron Arnold and Nick Potter has totaled 25.1 innings and allowed just eight earned runs while striking out 36 and allowing only 17 hits. Last Wednesday against Abilene Christian, Potter became the first WSU pitcher to strike out five or more consecutive hitters since Clark Candiotti punched out seven straight against Houston on April 7, 2023.

WALK-OFF WINS: After recording just one walk-off win in 2024, the Shockers have turned the trick twice in their first six home games of 2025. Mauricio Millan capped a wild series finale against Missouri State with a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the ninth for a 9-8 win and the previous weekend sophomore outfielder Lane Haworth launched a two-out, two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift WSU to a 5-4 win over Cal State Fullerton on February 28. Haworth’s blast was the first walk-off home run for Wichita State since Garrett Kocis connected for a two-run shot against Kansas on March 23, 2022.

NEW NAME, NEW PERKS: Last Friday marked the first game under the enhanced naming at Eck Stadium, now known officially as Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field at Gene Stephenson Park. What was originally known as Shocker Field when the baseball program was reinstituted in the 1978 season, Eck has undergone several major renovations to reach its current form. This past offseason, the facility added new state-of-the-art lights, mesh chairback seats behind home plate and loge boxes down the first base line. The program also announced the forthcoming addition of the Kosich Pavilion, a two-tiered seating area located beyond the left field fence.

POWER OF THE PLUNK: Wichita State shattered the program record for hit by pitches in 2024, drawing 116 HBPs to best the previous mark (84 in 2019) by 32. The Shockers have already been hit 33 times this season, including six games with three HBPs or more. WSU finished 16th nationally in team HBPs last season, led by Mauricio Millan’s new program and conference record 24.

PRESEASON PUB: Wichita State was picked second in the 2025 American Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll, the highest preseason projection for the Shockers since joining the conference in 2017. The Shockers had never been picked higher than fourth in the American preseason poll, a status they reached just once in the 2022 edition. WSU also matched Tulane for the most representatives on the Preseason All-Conference Team; catcher Mauricio Millan, first baseman Josh Livingston, second baseman Jordan Rogers and shortstop Camden Johnson were all recognized by the conference, with Millan as the unanimous selection behind the plate.

GETTING THE GANG BACK TOGETHER: Wichita State returned just 11 total players to their 2024 roster following the coaching change that brought Brian Green to Wichita, but this season the Shockers enter the year with significantly more experience. On the position player front, WSU returns nine players who started 10 or more games, while the pitching staff features nine hurlers who appeared in eight or more contests.

PORTAL POWER: Wichita State turned to the portal for seven D1 transfers: Grant Adler (Kansas), Cole Dillon (Arizona), Jace Miner (Oklahoma), Arnad Mulamekic (Siena), Owen Reynolds (Oral Roberts), MJ Seo (LSU) and Owen Washburn (Texas Tech). Adler and Miner both began their D1 careers at Wichita State before transferring during the coaching change, with Adler named the AAC Newcomer Pitcher of the Year in 2023 and Miner earning Second Team All-Conference honors as a reliever.

UPS AND DOWNS: The 2024 season was a true roller coaster ride for Wichita State. The Shockers entered the month of April at 18-9 following a three-game sweep of Rice, but had a miserable month that threatened to derail the season. WSU went 4-17 in their next 21 games, suffering a pair of conference sweeps at the hands of South Florida and East Carolina. But the Shockers righted the ship in May, winning a season-best seven games in a row from May 4-17 and reaching the championship game of the American Athletic Conference tournament with the help of two wins over top-seeded East Carolina.

TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE: With a program record of 2,348 wins, 1,288 losses and nine ties, Wichita State ranks in the top ten of all college baseball programs with a .644 winning percentage. The Shockers have won 20 regular season conference championships and 18 conference tournament championships, earning a trip to Omaha for the College World Series on seven different occasions. WSU claimed the 1989 national championship and finished as national runner-up in 1982, 1991 and 1993.