Chuck Ingram’s hitting spurs Wichita State baseball to first AAC series win over Tulane
For the first time since joining the American Athletic Conference, the Wichita State baseball team won a weekend series against Tulane.
After splitting a Friday doubleheader, the Shockers secured the series victory with a 7-4 win over the Green Wave at Turchin Stadium in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon.
WSU improved to 20-15 (5-4 AAC), which is good for third place and is two games back from conference-leading East Carolina, who is slated to play a weekend series against the Shockers at Eck Stadium starting Friday at 6 p.m.
Junior outfielder Chuck Ingram was the star of this past weekend, as the Kansas City native finished with 10 hits, eight runs scored and five runs batted in in his three-game series against Tulane.
Ingram gave the Shockers an early lead in Sunday’s game, as he cranked a double to start the game, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brock Rodden and scored on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Pennington. Ingram finished 4-for-5 at the plate with three doubles and three runs scored.
WSU built a 4-0 lead, but Tulane rallied to tie the score after seven innings. The Shockers rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth inning with a lead-off double from pinch hitter Jordan Rogers, a RBI double by Kyte McDonald and another RBI hit by Ingram. Robert Cranz closed out the win for WSU, recording the final seven outs by allowing just one hit and striking out five.
Tulane built an early lead, then held off a late rally by WSU in a 9-7 victory in Friday’s first game, then the Shockers exacted their revenge by rallying for a 10-9 win.
Ingram once again stole the show by smashing two home runs in the nightcap, the second of which was tracked as traveling 501 feet for easily the longest home run of the season for a Shocker hitter.
Tulane led 7-3 after three innings, but WSU exploded for five runs in the fourth inning and never trailed again. Garrett Pennington provided the highlight with a towering shot over the left-field fence for a grand slam.
WSU will conclude a five-game road trip with a single game against Kansas State in Manhattan on Tuesday night.
Shocker softball’s winning streak snapped, but remain in first place
The WSU softball team saw its 12-game winning streak snapped in a 4-0 loss to Houston on Sunday, but won the series and remained in first place in the AAC standings.
The Shockers moved to 36-8 overall and 10-2 in conference play, which is one game up in the loss column on South Florida, UCF and Houston, which are all 6-3 now. WSU has two conference series remaining against Tulsa (17-23, 3-6 AAC) and East Carolina (25-20, 3-9 AAC).
WSU built a 5-0 lead in Friday’s series opener, blew it, fell behind in extra innings, came through in the clutch to extend the game, then won 8-7 on a walk-off sacrifice fly from Lauren Lucas in the bottom of the 11th inning. After Houston took a 7-6 lead in the 10th inning, Lainee Brown delivered the game-tying RBI double with two outs in the bottom-half of the inning.
The Shockers had to also scrap back from a deficit in Saturday’s game, erasing a 4-3 deficit in the fourth inning with a go-ahead, 2-RBI double off the wall by Bailey Urban in the bottom of the sixth inning.
There were no such heroics in Sunday’s series finale, as WSU’s explosive offense was limited to just three hits against Houston ace Kenna Wilkey. The Shockers were one win away from tying the school record for most consecutive victories.
WSU won’t have much rest time to prepare for a rematch against Oklahoma State, a team the Shockers registered their highest-ranked win in school history against two weeks ago in an 8-7 win over the No. 2-ranked Cowgirls at Wilkins Stadium. WSU hosts ECU at Wilkins Stadium for its final weekend series at home.
WSU coaches will travel region for summer caravan
The WSU Foundation and the athletic department recently announced that athletic director Kevin Saal and an array of Shocker head coaches will travel to different cities in the region for what is being billed as a Shocker Summer Caravan.
The events will feature meet-and-greets with select coaches and have question-and-answer sessions with emcee Mike Kennedy. Fans in attendance will also have the opportunity to win door prices, take pictures with special guests and hear directly from Saal on athletic department updates.
The tour stops include Hutchinson (June 5 at Salt City Brewing from 5-7 p.m.), Kansas City (June 6 at Overland Park Chicken N Pickle from 5-7 p.m.), Oklahoma City (June 13 at Chicken N Pickle from 5-7 p.m.) and Dodge City (June 14 at Dodge City Brewery from 5-7 p.m.). Fans are encouraged to RSVP on the WSU Foundation website or by following the link to RSVP at Hutchinson, Kansas City, Oklahoma City or Dodge City.
New men’s basketball coach Paul Mills is slated to appear at all four stops, while volleyball coach Chris Lamb, baseball coach Loren Hibbs, track and field coach Steve Rainbolt, cross country coach Kirk Hunter, men’s tennis coach Darragh Glavin, women’s tennis coach Colin Foster and women’s golf coach Tom McCurdy will also make appearances.
Glavin and Hunter will accompany Mills in Hutchinson, while Foster and McCurdy will be at the Kansas City stop, Hibbs and Lamb join Mills in Oklahoma City and Rainbolt will also be there in Dodge City.
Women’s tennis finishes season with undefeated record at home
The No. 71-ranked Wichita State women’s tennis team closed out the year with a perfect 7-0 record at home with a 4-1 victory over Creighton on Saturday.
The regular-season finale began at Coleman Tennis Complex, but lightning forced the match to conclude indoors at Genesis Health Club. WSU improved to 12-9 this season, while Creighton dropped to 15-7.
Both of WSU’s seniors, Lingwei Kong and Harriet Hamilton, both helped the Shockers win in their final regular-season match. Kong teamed with Natsumi Kurahashi for the deciding doubles win at No. 2, while Hamilton won at No. 6 singles. The Shockers clinched the match when Kristina Kudryavtseva rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the first set to win 7-5, 6-7 (9), 6-2 at No. 4 singles.
“A big thank you to Harriet and Lingwei for all they’ve done for our program. Today was a great chance to celebrate them,” WSU coach Colin Foster told GoShockers.com. “In doubles Lingwei and Natsu really stepped up under pressure with the point on the line, and in singles Harriet quickly extended that lead to 2-0. It was tricky with poor conditions and then going inside late in singles. Kristina had a bunch of match points in the second set to clinch the match and couldn’t convert, so I’m glad she was able to put that behind her and reset for that third set and get the job done.”
The WSU men’s tennis team also scored a senior-day victory in a 4-1 win over Creighton on Saturday. The Shockers improved to 11-14 on the season.
After losing the doubles point, WSU scored the team victory with four straight wins in singles play: Orel Ovil at No. 3, Alejandro Jacome at No. 1, Kristof Minarik at No. 4 and Misha Kvantaliani at No. 2. Kvantaliani trailed 5-2 in the third set, but rallied to win five straight games to clinch the match and the team victory for the Shockers.
The WSU men’s team will play first-place Temple in a warm-up match in Orlando, Fla. ahead of the American Athletic Conference Championships, which begin Friday and last until Sunday.
The women’s AAC Championships, also in Orlando, begin Wednesday and conclude on Saturday.
WSU high jumper improves to sixth-best mark in the nation
On the final day of the Kansas Relays, WSU sophomore Brady Palen improved his NCAA rank with the sixth-best clearance in the men’s high jump in the nation this season to win the event.
The Beloit native cleared an outdoor personal-best mark of 7 feet, 2¼ inches to edge out KU’s top leaper, Devin Loudermilk, who was ranked No. 17 in the country.
“Brady Palen had a terrific high jump today and won against a strong field,” WSU head coach Steve Rainbolt told GoShockers.com. “I was really happy for him for such a terrific competitive effort.”
WSU men’s golfer ties for career-best finish in Iowa tournament
Blake Lorenz equaled his career-best finish with a tie for third place overall, as the WSU men’s golf team took sixth in the Hawkeye Invitational at Finkbine Golf Course on Saturday.
The Oklahoma transfer in his first season playing for the Shockers as a junior, Lorenz broke even par in all three of his rounds and notched 13 birdies to finish with an 8-under score of 208 strokes in the 54-hole tournament. He was two strokes back from Iowa’s Mac McClear for the individual medalist honors.
Andover native Lucas Scheufler, a WSU sophomore, shot an even-par score of 216 to finish in a tie for 20th place, while Dawon Lewis (222), J.T. Pittman (226) and Aston Castillo (234) rounded out the team score.
The Shockers will next play in the three-day AAC Championship tournament, beginning Friday at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.
