Wichita State baseball shuts out K-State in win to complete first season sweep since 2012
The Wichita State baseball team is off to a good start to its most important week of the season to date.
Six pitchers combined to toss a five-hit shutout for the Shockers in a 1-0 win over Kansas State at Eck Stadium on Tuesday. WSU swept the season series — it also won 10-4 in Manhattan on April 18 — against the Wildcats for the first time since the 2012 season, while shutting out its in-state rivals for the first time since 2003.
WSU improved to 27-17 this season and bolstered its postseason resume (K-State is ranked No. 22 nationally by Collegiate Baseball and No. 57 in RPI) with another quality win. The Shockers have now won five games against Big 12 competition for the first time since 2018.
After handling business in their midweek game, the Shockers will try to do the same thing this weekend at Houston in an American Athletic Conference series that will determine first place in the conference standings. With nine games remaining in league play, WSU and Houston are tied with a 10-5 record and East Carolina (9-6) and Cincinnati (8-7) in pursuit.
WSU has some momentum courtesy of a dramatic win on Tuesday in front of more than 3,000 fans who enjoyed ideal weather conditions at Eck Stadium.
Mauricio Millan produced the game’s only run in the bottom of the third inning with a two-out RBI single back up the middle to score Garrett Pennington. But that would be all the offense the Shockers would require.
Without a true midweek starter, head coach Loren Hibbs employed a bullpen game strategy which was ultimately successful. While K-State constantly threatened throughout the game, it never broke through against WSU’s combination of relievers in Matt Boyer, Caden Favors, Cameron Bye, Jace Miner, Robert Cranz and Nate Snead.
K-State had runners on first and second base with no outs in the top of the seventh inning, but Cranz escaped the jam with a fly out and then inducing an inning-ending double play ball that David Herring and Brock Rodden made easy work of.
The Wildcats again had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the eighth inning, this time against Snead, but the freshman struck out the next hitter and recorded the second out on a fielder’s choice. With the game-tying run 90 feet away on third base, Snead ended the threat with a ground out to Rodden at second base.
The game-tying run advanced to second base in the top of the ninth inning, but Snead closed out the game with a swinging strikeout on a full count to ignite the home crowd.
The South Milwaukee, Wisc. native has been a standout arm for the Shockers out of the bullpen in his debut season. Snead lowered his season ERA to 3.12 and notched a team-high third save, as he now has 43 strikeouts and only 14 walks in 34-plus innings.
