Catcher Ethan Gonzalez couldn’t help but laugh at his miscalculation.
With runners on first and third base with two outs against Charlotte, Gonzalez crushed a ball to left-center field. His mini celebration at first base made it look like he thought the ball had cleared the fence for a three-run bomb.
“I did, I did,” Gonzalez said with a sigh. “I was running, and I saw the outfielder just looking straight at the fence.
“Usually, when they do that, it’s gone, so my heart started racing a little bit. But when I saw it hit the wall, I just busted my butt to second.”
Even though it wasn’t the expected home run, Gonzalez’s two-run double still broke the game open for Wichita State, pushing its lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Shockers (16-8, 1-0) went on to beat Charlotte (14-8, 0-1), 8-3, in the American Conference opener Friday night at Eck Stadium.
Gonzalez’s smash, which came on a hitter-friendly 3-1 count, landed at the base of the wall. A first-year Shocker from Blinn College in Texas, Gonzalez was hitting .154 at the time of the double.
“My approach was really just sitting slider,” he said. “I mean, I’ve seen a lot of sliders today, so since I was ahead in the count, he’s probably just going to go back to the slider.
“I was sitting dead red.”
Two other RBIs that occurred in the bottom of the fifth were very different from this blast.
Center fielder Kaleb Duncan laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Owen Washburn, giving WSU a 3-2 lead. Junior second baseman Owen Rush then bunted the ball perfectly between the catcher and pitcher and beat the throw to tack on another run for the Shockers.
Those four RBIs in the bottom of the fifth came from the seventh (Duncan), eighth (Rush) and ninth hitters (Gonzalez) in the lineup.
“I thought the biggest part of that game was the bottom of the order,” WSU coach Brian Green said. “Those guys down at the bottom, they gave us the life that we needed.”
This production was especially clutch because Wichita State was missing its best hitter, senior catcher Max Kaufer, because of a shoulder injury suffered in a game on March 13. Kaufer had tallied a .440 batting average with 15 extra base hits and 11 home runs, all team highs.
So, Gonzalez had big shoes to fill behind the dish, and he stepped up when Wichita State needed him most. Green said Kaufer wouldn’t play against Charlotte on Saturday or Sunday but was uncertain beyond that.
“I felt very bad for him (Kaufer), of course,” Gonzalez said. “That’s my dawg. He was having a great season. You hate to see that.”
Gonzalez wasn’t the only Shocker to come through in WSU’s victory over the 49ers.
WSU’s starting pitcher, junior right-hander Matthew Cuccias, struggled on Friday night. He allowed four hits, two walks and two earned runs in 3.1 innings.
Then, lefty Ryan Morrison replaced Cuccias. But after facing just three batters, Morrison left the game with some “discomfort” in his right elbow, Green said. Morrison, who was making his eighth appearance of the season, walked off the mound holding his right elbow.
This put Wichita State behind schedule on the mound. However, Brady Pacha delivered for the Shockers, earning his second save of the season. A Wichitan who graduated from Bishop Carroll, Pacha entered the game with runners on first and second and no outs and the Shockers up 6-2.
On a full count, Charlotte’s hitter lined out to Rush, who quickly threw the ball to first base to double off the runner. The next hitter grounded out to Rush, allowing Pacha to escape the jam.
“The back runner is usually the one that’s most aggressive,” Rush said. “So always look to the back runner in that scenario.”
Pacha gave up just one hit, no walks and one earned run to go along with three strikeouts in four innings pitched.
“That was a tremendous performance by him (Pacha),” Green said. “He was the player of the game, no question.”
Wichita State faces Charlotte again at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday and finishes the series at 12:05 p.m. on Sunday, with both games being played at Eck Stadium.
