One of Jaden Gustafson’s goals for his last month in a Shocker uniform was to perform well at the plate in the conference tournament.
“Just to compete and have fun,” Gustafson said recently in a interview of his mindset. “To try to go out with a bang with no regrets and get to the tournament and be hot.”
He did just that.
Gustafson, a left fielder finishing his fourth year at Wichita State, came up big in the American Baseball Championship when the team needed him most.
In the top of the ninth against Florida Atlantic, the Shockers were down 2-1 — three outs away from their season ending in the opening game of the American’s postseason tournament at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla. The Wichita State offense had struggled up until this point, only managing three hits.
But the inning started off strong for WSU when center fielder Kaleb Duncan hit a fly ball to the right that dropped after Florida Atlantic’s outfielder lost it in the sun. A hustling Duncan reached second base on the play, and pinch hitter Jacob Gutierrez smacked the first pitch he saw up the middle to score Duncan and tie the game at 2-2.
“I’m just always prepared for an opportunity,” Gutierrez said on the ESPN+ broadcast. “I just wanted to go out there and do it for my team.”
Following a strikeout, Gustafson came to the plate with a chance to be the hero of the game: two outs and Gutierrez on second. The Maize High School graduate responded by ripping a ball through the left side of the infield for an RBI single that ended up being the game-winning hit.
Gutierrez and Gustafson’s clutch at bats pushed WSU (29-27) past sixth-seeded Florida Atlantic (28-28) by a score of 3-2, sending the No. 7 Shockers into the double-elimination portion of the tournament.
The Shockers will face No. 3 Rice at noon on Thursday. During the regular season, WSU took two of three games from Rice, including a 13-3 run-rule victory in the series finale on April 26.
In Wednesday’s game, the Owls jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after a sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the second off Shocker starter Matthew Cuccias. However, senior third baseman Jayson Jones evened the score with an RBI single that went through the right side of the infield in the fifth inning.
Jones, who was awarded Newcomer Position Player of the Year and First Team honors in the American, delivered against one of the top pitchers in the conference, sophomore right-hander James Litman. Litman, who entered the game with a 3.56 earned-run average and ranked third in the conference in strikeouts, was showing why he deserved the honor as he had thrown over four scoreless innings until Jones’ at bat.
Litman started off up 0-2 before Jones worked the count full and got the better of his fellow award winner, who was taken out after allowing the RBI single.
A Florida Atlantic solo homer off the first pitch in the bottom of the sixth put the Owls up 2-1, which held until the ninth-inning heroics of Gutierrez and Gustafson.
Cuccias, the conference leader in opponent batting average (.196), couldn’t find nearly as much early success as Litman. Cuccias struggled to find the strikezone, walking two batters and hitting three in 2 2/3 innings, but he kept the Shockers in the game by only allowing one run.
Caleb Reed, also a junior righty, relieved Cuccias and produced some big outs for Wichita State, pitching 1 ⅓ scoreless innings.
Then another junior right-hander Brady Hamilton came into the game and threw three solid innings, allowing just one hit and one run. Finally, Johnny Nuanez, a junior righty making his first relief appearance, threw two scoreless innings and earned his sixth win of the year.
A transfer from Grossmont College in California, Nuanez gave up no hits, one walk and no runs, while striking out three hitters. After punching out the final batter in the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout, Nuanez pointed up to the sky in celebration.
