Wichita State baseball’s home series against South Florida was marred by rain delays this weekend. The Shockers only managed to take Saturday’s game and lost the series, but snapped a nine-game losing streak.
Saturday’s game marked sophomore Brady Hamilton’s first win on the mound in two months.
“Feels really good to get back in the win column,” Hamilton said. “We played good baseball all around. The batters hit, we got out to a lead early (and) the defense was playing well.”
With the series loss, Wichita State fell to 13-30 on the season with an American Athletic Conference record of 5-13. South Florida stays in second place in the AAC with a 12-6 record in the conference and an overall record of 24-17.
The top eight teams in the conference will play in the championship tournament in May. With three series left in the regular season, Wichita State is in ninth.
Friday
Wichita State dropped the series’ first game, 4-1. Senior Grant Adler had a rough time on the mound as he took the loss, leaving his record at 3-5 this season.
Adler only threw three innings with a pitch count of 86, ending a 100-pitch streak of starts dating back to a win at Tulane in March.
The Shockers struggled with run support despite sporting a batting average of .316. Wichita State left 13 batters on base. The team also struggled to generate free passes, striking out eight times to one walk.
Adler pitched a scoreless first inning after the Bulls’ leadoff batter hit a double. In the bottom of the first, senior Josh Livingston doubled to right field and drove sophomore Kam Durnin in for Wichita State’s only run of the game.
Then, the wheels fell off for Wichita State as Adler hit a batter to start the second. After a passed ball and two USF singles, the HBP turned into USF’s first run.
A USF runner then scored on catcher’s interference when a USF batter hit senior catcher Mauricio Millan’s glove with a swing.
Adler gave up two more runs in the third inning on three hits, including a triple, and a walk. His day ended in the fourth after he walked a batter, then beaned the next one.
Despite a great performance out of the bullpen from senior Owen Reynolds and sophomore Jeremiah Arnett, Wichita State couldn’t drive in any runners, even though they held USF scoreless for six innings.
Sophomore Gannon Snyder stranded five runners in Friday’s loss. Three innings ended with Snyder outs at the plate.
Saturday
Hamilton took a soaked mound in a 7-5 victory that snapped WSU’s nine-game losing streak. It marked Hamilton’s first win since February, as he is now 2-5 on the season.
“I enjoyed it because hitters don’t like to hit in bad weather,” Hamilton said. “So it’s always a good day to pitch whenever the conditions aren’t favorable for the hitters.”
Hamilton didn’t allow any runners in the first two innings as the Shockers struck first with an RBI double from Livingston. Then, junior Jaden Gustafson scored on an error in the second.
Hamilton gave up two runs in the third inning but continued to pitch scoreless innings until the eighth inning, when he allowed his third and final run of the day.
As Hamilton continued to put on a quality start, the Shockers mustered up run support. Sophomore Camden Johnson and senior Jordan Rogers both hit home runs.
Johnson hit a three-run homer to left in the fifth inning to put the Shockers up 5-2, and Rogers hit a solo shot in the eighth to make the score 7-3.
Wichita State’s bullpen had a scare in the ninth, allowing two runs, but the game ended on a strikeout looking as junior Aaron Arnold earned the save.
Despite having eight hits in the game, four fewer than the loss the previous day, the Shockers did well in clutch situations.
Hamilton pitched 7 2/3 innings, the most in his collegiate career and allowed only four hits.
“That’s longer than any high school game and I think that’s the longest I’ve thrown probably ever,” Hamilton said. “I’ve gotten to the fifth and sixth while being in college, but 7.2 is my first longer than seven-inning outing.”
Sunday
Sunday’s game was flip-flopped back to its originally scheduled slot of noon due to inclement weather. Sophomore southpaw Tyler Dobbs toed the rubber for his third start of the season and took the loss for his fourth of the year.
Dobbs spent the first inning worried about a runner after he gave up a steal to USF’s leadoff batter. With some diligent pickoff moves, Dobbs held the runner at second base after two strikeouts and a flyout.
Dobbs again pulled out the pickoff move several times in the second inning to keep a man at first base as he retired the side and generated another strikeout in the process.
The WSU lineup went down 1-2-3 innings in the first two innings of the game and Dobbs allowed two runs to score after loading the bases with no outs in the third. He then gave up a three-run homer to bring the score to 5-0.
Senior Jace Miner came in to relieve Dobbs, which ended his day after 2 2/3 innings. Dobbs had six strikeouts on the day, walked two and allowed four earned runs.
Sophomore Zeb Henry was the first WSU batter to reach base with a double in the third. He advanced to third base on an infield hit, but the USF pitcher caught a comebacker from Johnson to end the inning.
The Shockers were much better at getting on base down the stretch, but, similarly to the first game of the series, had trouble stringing anything together to drive in runs. They only scored runs without the fielders in the equation by taking the ball deep, as all four WSU runs came on homers.
“We’ve started to score some runs and string some things along,” Livingston said. “But the game is out of reach. It’s about when the game is kind of close, getting those runs together and not having too many zeros up on the board during the middle innings.”
Livingston was the one to break the shutout with a solo home run in the sixth.
USF put the game out of reach with a two-RBI double and a two-run homer in the seventh allowed by Arnold and junior Caleb Anderson, respectively. Durnin responded with a two-run homer of his own during WSU’s stint at the plate, making the score 10-3.
USF then responded with another two-run homer to left field as they inched closer and closer toward a run rule in the eighth. Livingston quelled the notion with another solo homer, 12-4.
Wichita State used seven pitchers in the game while the Bulls stuck with their starter for eight innings.
Wichita State will take a one-game road trip to play Oklahoma in Norman on Tuesday, April 9. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
