Until Tuesday evening, the Shockers had struggled in their midweek matchups.
However, piggybacking off of an 18-run performance to close out a conference series loss to Rice last weekend, WSU’s bats stayed hot in a 13-9 win over Oral Roberts.
With the win, Wichita State rose to 17-35 on the season and Oral Roberts fell to 30-20. Senior Arnad Mulamekic was awarded the win out of the bullpen, which was his first win of the season.
WSU head coach Brian Green gave credit to the rest of the pitching staff after the game.
“We needed to score some runs, but (I) was really proud of a lot of the guys that pitched today,” Green said. “(Caleb) Anderson was great.”
Anderson, a junior, started in the midweek matchup. He pitched one inning and forced the Golden Eagles to go 1-2-3 on an efficient nine pitches.
According to Green, just over two weeks ago, the coaches decided to give his pitchers a “confidence move,” letting them throw what they want to throw.
“Especially some of the guys that have been struggling,” Green said. “(Catcher) Cole (Dillon) had the game today for the most part; (pitching coach Anthony Claggett) is on the walkie talkie, helping out with some ideas.”
After Anderson’s 1-2-3 outing on the mound and a 1-2-3 first inning themselves, the Shockers struck first in the second inning with a two-RBI single by an unlikely hero in the nine hole, sophomore Kaleb Duncan. Duncan, who had produced a paltry .482 OPS on the season, got the hit with the bases loaded and two outs.
“After I hit it, I kind of just put my head down and started running,” Duncan said. “I know I hit it hard and gave my guys a chance to score.”
WSU stayed hot as the batting order rotated. In the next at bat after Duncan’s, sophomore Camden Johnson knocked a two-RBI double of his own.
Senior Jordan Rogers added another run with an RBI double. Then, senior Josh Livingston pulled a ball over the right field fence to increase the lead to 7-0 and cap off the second inning barrage.
Run prevention and run production lived in harmony through the front half of the game, as the Shockers enjoyed production from both the mound and the batter’s box.
The pitchers from the ‘pen produced four straight runless innings to start, a break from the usual midweek matchup woes for the Shockers. Before the game against Oral Roberts, WSU had given up an average of 9.7 runs per game against midweek opponents.
“We went into that game with a scripted gameplan of, ‘Everybody is going to get an inning,’” Green said. “Everybody go in there and give us your best effort for one inning so we could maintain the weekend and keep some guys off the mound.”
In the fourth, junior Jacob Gustafson pulled it together in the clutch with a two-RBI single with two outs and the bases loaded for a 9-0 lead.
However, senior Hunter Holmes lost control when he was on the mound, allowing five runs on three walks, three hits and three wild pitches in the fifth inning. Holmes’ day ended after allowing an RBI double. Sophomore southpaw Tyler Dobbs took over for the last out of the inning.
“The freebies are disappointing in the middle of the game,” Green said. “Especially when you have a big lead. That’s something that we’re just pounding with all our guys, is (that) we’ve got to be able to take those freebies and knock them down.”
Dobbs allowed a solo homer in the sixth and was replaced by sophomore Drew Iverson for the last out of the inning. Gustafson hit an RBI double to stop the bleeding for WSU, making the score 10-6.
The Golden Eagles were much closer than they appeared despite being in the Shockers’ rear view mirror as the back half of the bullpen struggled, including a solo homer off of Iverson in the seventh.
Oral Roberts took the game back within a run after two runs scored in the eighth, 10-9.
The Shockers needed a hero — and Gustafson stepped up to the plate. In the eighth inning, he hit a three-run homer straight to center field to seal the game.
“He’s really heating up,” Green said about Gustafson. “He had a good series last weekend offensively (and) he’s just swinging the bat really level and really flat right now. So he’s getting a lot of backspin.”
Gustafson had a career-high four hits and six RBI on the night. Over the last six games, he is hitting 12-for-20 (.600) with nine RBI.
“When he gets hot, he gets hot,” Green said.
Senior Jack Mount closed out the ninth, securing two groundouts and striking out the last to earn a save.
Wichita State still controls its destiny
Wichita State will stay home for a final chance of securing an American Athletic Conference Championship bid against Memphis. The teams are in a deadlock for eighth place, the final AAC tournament bid, at 8-16 in the standings.
Wichita State must win the series against Memphis to clinch the last place spot in the AAC tournament.
The series will be played in Eck Stadium from Thursday, May 15, to Saturday, May 17. The first game is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m.
“It’s Memphis,” Green said. “It’s usually pretty emotional. For us, it’s going to be freebies on the mound, and offensively, just continuing to get better. 31 runs in two games, we like where we’re trending at the plate right now.”
