Shockers at Sam Houston State - 2015 Opening Series

[1972Shocker]

Preview of what to expect this weekend as far as lineups and approach at Sam Houston.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article9467144.html

Starting Rotation: Sam Tewes, Isaac Anderson and Willie Schwanke

[Cdizzle]

Baseball season sure does sneak up on you when you aren't lamenting "there's always baseball season" in the first week of the basketball conference season.

Should be interesting to see what kind of product they put on the diamond this year.

[SB Shock]

Should be a good test. SMS is projected to win the Southland and be NCAA team. They were almost a super-regional team but lost to TCU in 22 innings. From D1 baseball

The strength of this team will be on the mound. After an impressive freshman season (2.61 ERA and .218 batting average against in 79.1 innings), righty Sam Odom is back to anchor the staff along with left-hander Andrew Godail (31 strikeouts in 33.1 innings in 2014), and righty Dylan Ebbs (2.77 ERA in 52.0 innings). Keep an eye on lefty Logan Boyd, who really turned heads this fall, and Ryan Brinley is a strong, veteran closer. Odom will sit anywhere from 88-91 mph with his fastball, along with a strong three-pitch mix, Boyd will sit 88-91 and up to 92 with his FB, along with a quality changeup, while Godail, the veteran, will sit 88-91 with a good breaking pitch that’s effective against righties and lefties. Meanwhile, Brinley is a power arm at the back-end of games with a 92-94 FB, up to 95 at times, along with a hard and sharp breaking pitch. Sam Houston State has to replace a few key bats, including Anthony Azar (.368/.450/.543) and Corey Toups (.310/.392/.513). However, it does return a pair of seniors in Colt Atwood (.306/.339/.358) and Hayden Simerly (.256/.342/.411). Freshman outfielder Bryce Johnson should be a name SLC fans are very familiar with by the end of the season. Johnson is a very good athlete with 6.50 60-yard dash speed, some gap power and a smooth approach.

[SB Shock]

Here is what D1 said about WSU

It’s been an interesting offseason for Wichita State, whose fourth-place finish in the league last year will have almost no bearing on this season’s performance. Second-year coach Todd Butler has to deal with the loss of four MLB draftees, including conference player of the year and first-round pick Casey Gillaspie. His team will also face NCAA probation in the wake of rules violations, sanctions that constitute a remarkable act of deluded apparatchikism, even for the governing body of major college sports. In 2012-13, an administrative assistant helped 21 players receive discounted non-baseball gear from Under Armour. That the NCAA itself described the violations as “limited in scope” and “inadvertent and the result of a good-faith mistake” did not mitigate the need for punishment, nor did the fact that the violations occurred under the watch of former head coach Gene Stephenson (whom the NCAA report largely absolved of responsibility and praised for creating a culture of compliance).

Anyway, Butler also spent the past year bringing in an impressive group of junior college transfers, as many as nine (yes, nine) of whom could play a meaningful role for Wichita State. The most interesting player in that group is Sam Hilliard, late of Crowder College, who is from Texas and is therefore a 6-foot-5 power pitcher. He’ll start on Saturdays and play first base and hit cleanup the rest of the week. Among returning players, sophomore RHP Sam Tewes and junior OF Daniel Kihle should build on productive seasons in supporting roles last year. Kihle is coming off an all-star summer in the Cape Cod League, where he showcased a solid all-around skill set. But by sheer force of turnover, the Shockers are a high-upside, high-volatility team. Their schedule is similarly intriguing. Wichita State plays 12 teams in nonconference competition: Two of them went to Omaha last year (Texas and TCU), four more made the tournament (Oklahoma State, Kansas, Sam Houston State, Long Beach State) and another, New Mexico, tied for the regular-season crown in a two-bid Mountain West without making a regional itself. That’ll set up some opportunities to bag some big-name victories in support of a potential at-large bid, which could be important considering that the Shockers get both Dallas Baptist and Missouri State on the road this year.

[1972Shocker]

Nice write up by D1

[Cdizzle]

Even when I try not to get too excited about a team or a season, I just cannot do it.

Can't wait for this to get rolling tonight.

Go Shox!

[Cdizzle]

I think you posted in the wrong thread. The one with players intentionally drop-kicking other players in the chest is in the MBB forum.

[_kai_]

I think you posted in the wrong thread. The one with players intentionally drop-kicking other players in the chest is in the MBB forum.

That's straight in the grapes, not the chest.

[Cdizzle]

That's straight in the grapes, not the chest.

My mistake. I hear that can be very painful.

[_kai_]

Not sure which one is more painful. Cobb dropkick to the grapes, or this.

[Cdizzle]

Went from marginally ready for the season to begin to fully-amped season ticket holder in like 6 hours today. Let's do this thing!

Note: The above should probably be a pretty positive reflection of the athletic department successfully carrying out their jobs.

[shocks02]

WSU LINEUP: https://twitter.com/GoShockersBSB/st...70077834899458

BURNS-CF
FARRIS-2B
KIHLE-LF
HILLIARD-1B
TINKHAM-DH
RADER-3B
REDING-RF
ARENS-C
KIRK-SS