#24 Wichita State at Houston, 3 Game Series

[Play Angry]

Shocks head to Houston (22-15, 7-5 (RPI 116) for a weekend series. Long story short, Houston has great pitching (3.30 ERA, 5 shutouts) and very poor hitting (.253 avg, 12 HR) which has resulted in a disappointing season to date (they were Top 25 preseason in several polls). This is still a very dangerous Cougars team with a lot of talent, though.

Game times and matchups below:

• Friday, 6:30 PM - Codi Heuer (RHP, 5-2, 4.93) vs Trey Cumbie (LHP, 3-2, 3.79)
• Saturday, 6:30 PM - Liam Eddy (RHP, 6-2, 3.08) vs Aaron Fletcher (LHP, 4-2, 1.08)
• Sunday, 1 PM - TBD vs TBD

Will be interesting to see who gets the nod for Sunday's start with no obvious first choice with Tommy slated to miss the weekend. A series win would cap a very nice week for the Shocks; a sweep in our favor would be phenomenal; a series loss on the other hand is certainly possible and would be a bit of a disappointment. Planning to make the trip for at least one game this weekend (2 if everything falls just right in scheduling) and am really looking forward to it.

Go Shocks!!!

[Cdizzle]

Kennedy had thrown out Tyler Davis as a potential starter for Sunday. If he had pitched Tuesday, I could maybe see that. But he threw 5 innings and 65 pitches on Wednesday, which would be just 3 days rest. He has been a reliever, so I'm sure he's used to bouncing back, but that's a lot of pitches. He certainly gets my vote from a performance stand point.

[shockfan89_]

It is only six games, but these next two conference series will probably determine a lot. Both on the road against conference opponents that we should beat (on paper given our RPI, ranking, and record), but both are in front of us in the conference standings.

If we win both series we will likely be in the top 3rd of the conference and control our own destiny. If we win one series we will likely be middle of the pack but still in good shape for an at-large, and if we lose both series we will be bottom third of the conference at 6-9, fall off the radar in the rankings, and will have an uphill battle for an at large.

The good news is 2 of our last 3 conference series are at home. The bad news is we still need to face all three teams tied for 1st place in the conference.

Some exciting weekends in front of us!!!

[Cdizzle]

Need to start piling up some conference wins, and soon, if they are going to apply any pressure at the top of the league. Going 1-2 @ECU was fine. Going 3-3 against Tulane and UConn is probably at least 1 game behind what needed done. Need to pick that game back up somewhere. A sweep against Houston would do that. Sweeping Houston will not be easy, but again, if one wants to do something like win a conference, sometimes one has to do things that are not easy.

[Play Angry]

Baby steps. Cumbie was a preseason AA, beating him tonight will be very difficult on the road - dude has electric stuff. Hopefully we can get the dub and start the series on the right foot.

[1972Shocker]

Probably should have played a doubleheader today. Getting a game in tomorrow looks iffy. Should be okay Sunday but not sure they have the flexibility to play 2 due to travel plans unless they start early in the morning.

[Cdizzle]

RH article on Liam Eddy: http://goshockers.com/news/2018/4/20...on-target.aspx

[Cdizzle]

Vickers error leads to 2 runs in the first. They need to get the fielding thing figured out.

So far.... Did Heuer sleep with everyone's girlfriends?

[Shox The Revenant]

Figures...

[Play Angry]

Shocks get 1 back in the 3rd, 2-1 UH to the bottom of the inning.

[Play Angry]

UH leads off with a double and a single in the 3rd to push it back to 3-1.

[Play Angry]

Still 3-1 to the 6th.

[Play Angry]

3-1 to the 7th. Vickers' error the difference so far.

Codi recovered to put together a good blue collar outing. Hitters need to pick him up.

[Cdizzle]

3-1 Final. Shox give away another conference game.

[1972Shocker]

3-1 Final. Shox give away another conference game.

Shame to see that effort by Codi wasted but hopefully he will be able to wash, rinse and repeat. As good as Codi was Cumbie was even better. Could not afford any mistakes in this game and the Shocks made on costly one.