Baseball Preview: Tulane – Wichita State Athletics

Wichita State (7-13, 0-0 American) vs. Tulane (15-6, 0-0 American)

Friday, March 21 | 6:30 pm CT | New Orleans, Louisiana (Greer Field at Turchin Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Grant Adler (1-1, 7.01) vs. LHP Luc Fladda (1-1, 4.40)

Saturday, March 22 | 6:30 pm CT | New Orleans, Louisiana (Greer Field at Turchin Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
RHP Brady Hamilton (1-1, 5.32) vs. RHP Trey Cehajic (3-1, 2.57)

Sunday, March 23 | 1:00 pm CT | New Orleans, Louisiana (Greer Field at Turchin Stadium)
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM
TBA vs. TBA

SCENE SETTER: Wichita State opens American Athletic Conference play with a rematch of last season’s AAC tournament championship game, traveling to New Orleans for a three-game series at Tulane beginning Friday night. Last time out, WSU dropped two of three games at home against Louisiana Tech, sandwiching a pair of losses around a Saturday victory to bring their overall record to 7-13 through the end of non-conference play. Wichita State did not have a midweek game following the Louisiana Tech series. 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. “The Voice of the Shockers” Mike Kennedy returns to the airwaves for all three games of the series against Tulane, with Denning Gerig joining the broadcast as color commentator. The series will also be streamed live on ESPN+ ($). Live audio, in addition to live statistics, will be available at GoShockers.com/listen and ShockerStats.com. 

SERIES HISTORY: The Shockers and Green Wave have met 30 times dating back to the 1993 season, with Tulane holding a 17-13 lead in the all-time series. Two of Wichita State’s wins in 2012 were later vacated by the NCAA. Tulane took two of three games in Wichita last season, winning Friday before splitting a Sunday doubleheader. The Green Wave then won an instant classic in the AAC tournament championship, claiming their second consecutive tournament title on a walk-off solo homer from Jackson Linn in the bottom of the ninth. In Wichita State’s most recent visit to New Orleans in 2023, the Shockers won two of three games against the Green Wave, splitting a Friday doubleheader before claiming the series finale on Sunday. The first-ever matchup with Tulane came in Honolulu in 1993, a 5-3 Tulane win.

SCOUTING TULANE: The Green Wave check in at 15-6 through the non-conference portion of the schedule, suffering a 14-4 home loss to Lamar in their most recent action on Tuesday. Tulane has not lost a home series yet this season and has dropped just one series in total, a road set at Pepperdine. The Green Wave rank in the top-25 nationally in several categories, including doubles (7th), double plays turned (10th), strikeouts-per-nine (13th) and walks (23rd). Offensively, East Carolina transfer Connor Rasmussen leads the way with a .372 average and 21 RBI. The relief tandem of Tayler Montiel and Michael Lombardi highlight the pitching staff, with just one earned run allowed in 21.1 combined innings and 40 total strikeouts. Head coach Jay Uhlman is in his third full season at the helm after taking over on an interim basis late in the 2022 season.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: The Shockers are 3-3 in conference-opening series since joining The American in 2018, including a series win on the road at UAB last season. Wichita State has not swept or been swept in any of those six series (2018 – series loss at East Carolina, 2019 – loss at Tulane, 2021 – win at Houston, 2022 – loss at Houston, 2023 – win at Cincinnati, 2024 – win at UAB).

ALL THE WRONG RECORDS: Friday night’s loss to Louisiana Tech was a night to forget for the Shockers. The Bulldogs drew 17 walks, had 13 extra-base hits and rolled to a 27-12 win. The 27 runs are the third most allowed in Wichita State program history and the most in the modern era of the program. The 17 walks are the second most in program history, behind only a 23-walk game against Lamar in 1985. Six of seven Wichita State pitchers in the game issued multiple walks.

KEEPING UP WITH KRESKE: The Shockers have gotten a significant offensive boost from redshirt senior catcher Logan Kreske, who had just four hitless at-bats last season. The veteran backstop has reached base in half of his 16 plate appearances, including five hits. Kreske reached base in all six of his plate appearances over two games against Louisiana Tech.

REVERSE SPLITS: Sophomore infielder Camden Johnson has defied all the conventional wisdom of left-on-left matchups so far this season. When facing same-side pitching, Johnson has 16 hits in 29 at-bats for a staggering .552 average, while hitting a more modest .275 against righties. 

SMALL BALL: With just seven home runs through the first 20 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 22nd nationally with 15 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 11-for-11 over the last 11 contests, including five total steals in the two-game Nebraska midweek 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 29.1 innings and allowed just 11 earned runs while striking out 38 and allowing only 23 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 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.

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 40 times this season, including seven 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 2,349 wins, 1,290 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.