Wichita State baseball lost its third consecutive series against an American Athletic Conference opponent over the weekend. The Shockers were swept in three games on the road against FAU.
The Shockers, now 12-27 and 4-11 in the AAC, lost their seventh-straight game this season and are a half-game ahead of last place in the conference standings. The previous time WSU dropped seven or more games in a row was in 2022, when the team went on an 11-game losing streak.
WSU has lost eight straight games and 11 of 12 against Division I opponents.
The Owls, now 27-12 and 9-6 in the AAC, are in fourth place in the conference standings.
Game one
FAU scored five runs in the first inning in game one of the series, which proved too big of a hole for the Shockers to climb out of. WSU ended up losing, 9-2, on Thursday evening.
Senior Grant Adler started on the mound and was tagged with his fourth loss of the season, and his third in a row. He gave up an RBI single in the five-run first inning for the Owls, struck the next batter out, then gave up a grand slam down the right field line.
Adler stayed in the game for the next four innings and gave up two more runs. He ended the game with seven strikeouts. Sophomore Tyler Dobbs came in for relief in the bottom of the sixth, giving up two runs on two hits and striking out two FAU batters.
WSU managed eight hits during the game, but left as many runners on base. The team struck out 13 times. This was the fifth game against a conference opponent in which the Shockers struck out 10 or more times as a team.
Sophomore Kam Durnin and senior Cole Dillon were the only WSU players to record multiple hits, as they both hit 2-4 in the batter’s box.
Game two
On Friday, the Shockers went into the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run lead, but gave up six in that frame en route to an 8-4 loss. WSU’s loss in game two meant the Owls secured the series win.
Sophomore Jeremiah Arnett was the main culprit on the mound for FAU’s runs. Arnett gave up five earned runs and recorded two outs in the seventh. That included a grand slam that gave the Owls the lead. He was tagged with his second loss of the season.
Before then, the Shockers put up three runs in the fifth inning thanks to an RBI double from sophomore Camden Johnson. In the next at bat, senior Jordan Rogers crushed a two-RBI home run.
In the top of the seventh, senior Josh Livingston hit a solo homer to extend WSU’s lead to 4-2 before the disastrous bottom of the seventh struck.
Rogers ended the game hitting 2-5 with two RBI. Durnin hit 2-4 with two singles.
Game three
The Owls’ pitching held WSU in check for most of the series’ final game on Saturday and the Shockers ultimately lost, 7-4.
In the first five innings, WSU only recorded one hit as FAU jumped to a 3-0 lead. From there, the Shockers managed eight hits for the rest of the game.
WSU cut its deficit to two runs, 3-1, after the sixth inning, but junior Nick Potter gave up three runs in the seventh to put the Shockers in a five-run hole. Potter got tagged with his second loss of the season.
The teams traded runs in the eighth. Down to the team’s final out in the ninth, WSU tried to mount a comeback.
Johnson hit a single, and in the next at-bat, Rogers sent a two-run shot to cut the Shockers’ deficit to three runs. However, when Livingtson stepped into the batter’s box next, he went down swinging in four pitches to seal the game and series sweep for the Owls.
Next up, Wichita State will stay on the road for a game against an in-state opponent, Kansas State. The first pitch against the Wildcats is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22.
