Wichita State visited Peoria, Illinois to face the Bradley Braves this weekend. The conference series added two more losses for the Shockers in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Two weeks ago, the Shockers were on top of the Missouri Valley Conference at 5-1. After two conference series against Indiana State and Bradley, they are now among the middle of the pack at 6-6, dropping five of the last six conference games.

This season is, without a doubt, a difficult challenge for coach Todd Butler. With so many freshmen, new transfer players and last year’s NCAA punishment, the Shockers’ baseball program has its hands full on how they will manage the team and get back to being the dominant program in the MVC.

With that said, how will WSU keep the proud Shocker history intact? Is it OK for this season to be more of a project due to all the known obstacles it faces? Or will someone in the program be held responsible for this year’s struggle?

After this weekend, the Shockers’ record sits at 14-25 with conference play at 6-6. Certainly teetering a salvageable season among the MVC, the Shockers could finish strong and play well in postseason to save what may be a disaster season.

Butler knows that every team in the conference will have post season play. That experience will be beneficial for this team, along with simply playing more games together.

Shocker fans have to remember that with so many new players on the roster, there will be difficult times. We have seen the Shockers dominate when they swept Southern Illinois at Carbondale with ease. Then we saw the Shockers get embarrassed at home when they were swept by Illinois State.

Regardless of the current state of the Shockers baseball program, seeing how coach Butler and the team approach each game is interesting.

Shocker fans are not used to this type of struggle during the season, so the intrigue is worth watching. Hopefully we see the bats catch fire and the bullpen find its strength down the stretch.