So far this season, Wichita State’s baseball team has struggled against opponents in midweek matchups. The Shockers are 1-9 in these games with the only win coming last April against cross-town Newman University, a Division II school.
On Tuesday afternoon, WSU (15-32) kept with the trend by losing at home against BYU (23-23), 9-2.
WSU head coach Brian Green gave credit to the Cougars after the game.
“They executed what they wanted to do,” he said.
Green said the major problem with midweek games this season comes down to the pitching. The Shockers’ pitchers have now allowed 97 total runs (9.7 per game) against opponents in midweek games. The batters have been able to bring in 69 (6.9 per game) for the team in the 10 midweek games, but it hasn’t been enough to overcome the poor pitching.
“We look like a different team on the weekends than we do in the midweeks,” Green said. “… We don’t have tremendous power, we don’t have tremendous speed. And I think you see both sides trying to do way too much instead of trying to do the best you can within the framework of what you can do.”
When the pitching struggles in the midweek, like it did against BYU, Green said that the batters have tried too hard to get a big swing on the ball and make up ground too quickly.
It shows, as the Shockers hit 3-17 with runners on base and 1-10 with runners in scoring position against the Cougars.
Green said that scoring with runners in scoring position requires two things: the ability to hit pitches on the outer half of the plate and to make contact with offspeed pitches.
“When you try too hard and you try to pull side tanks when you don’t have any power, you know, that’s essentially what our program has been in the middle of for quite some time,” Green said. “… And I think today is a good indicator of that … hopefully we can make an adjustment with that in the next couple of days.”
Green also said, despite the pitching struggles, junior Caleb Anderson did a great job on the mound and was one of WSU’s only bright spots.
Anderson hasn’t put up the greatest stats this season with a 7.88 ERA, but against the Cougars, he pitched three innings and only gave up one run on four hits to go along with four strikeouts.
“He’s always trying to be perfect instead of just trusting the being on a third of the plate,” Green said. “I thought he was on a third today, but he had his two-seam (fastball) going and that was really good … (which was) really good to see because he’s a piece that could impact us over the next couple weeks.”
Heading into the eighth inning, the Shockers were only down by three runs, but BYU opened up their lead with five runs on three hits and a WSU error.
The Cougars scored their runs in the eighth on a wild pitch, a double to center field and a sacrifice flyout. They added two more on another double to center field that nearly cleared the fence for a home run.
Green said the team got sloppy during the inning all-around.
“You can make a mistake in the infield and that’ll cost you a base,” Green said. “If you make a mistake in the outfield, it’ll usually cost you a run. And that’s what that (inning) was.”
During the Shockers’ turn at the plate in the eighth, senior Jordan Rogers hit a leadoff double to almost the same exact spot that plated BYU’s final two runs of the inning. Then, senior Josh Livingston hit an RBI single on a 1-0 count in the next at bat, which was WSU’s only run that frame.
The teams went scoreless in the ninth to put away the game.
In the fifth, WSU loaded the bases with two outs. Then, senior Cole Dillon came up to bat and hit a soft blooper to shallow right field that was almost dropped by BYU’s second baseman. Instead, the Cougars’ infielder caught the ball to retire the side.
Green said had that ball dropped, the game would’ve drastically changed from a pitching management perspective and the hitter’s point of view.
“I think we would have really been confident and done some things,” Green said.
The Shockers’ first run came in the second inning when senior Logan Kreske hit an RBI double to left-center field. He said his approach during that at bat was to swing early.
“You can’t strikeout if you don’t get two strikes,” Kreske said. “So I think that seeing something in the zone early in the count and trying to do some damage with it is important. So, that’s what I did. I took a fastball in for a ball and then I hit a slider in the middle of the field.”
Before Kreske’s RBI double, the Cougars got on the board first with a solo home run on the second pitch of the game. Then in the second, BYU opened up a 3-0 lead after a two-RBI single to center field.
The Cougars scored their fourth run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice groundout.
What’s next?
Wichita State will hit the road for a pivotal conference weekend series against Rice from Friday, May 9, to Sunday, May 11. The first pitch for Friday’s game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
