Wichita State vs Oklahoma State (Moved to Wednesday)

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers were originally scheduled to play Okie State on Tuesday evening is now to played on Wednesday at 6:00 pm due to the forecast of rain on Tuesday.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2017/4/3/baseball-oklahoma-state-game-moved-to-wednesday.aspx

Okie State is now 16-11 on the season and are off to a 1-5 start in Big 12 play after being swept at #3 TCU and losing 2 of 3 at home to West Virginia.

Okie State is hitting .275 as a team with an OPS of .820 and 23 home runs in 27 games. They have team ERA of 3.70 and and opponents batting average of .244.

The Shocks are now hitting .240 as a team with an OPS of .661 and 9 home runs in 27 games. They have a team ERA of 4.07 amd am opponents batting average of .249.

OSU SOS is rankd 20th. The Shocks SOS is ranked 99th.

This would be a nice win if the Shocks can pull it off.

[shockfan89_]

I was kind of hoping for a DH to make up for last week's rain out.

[1972Shocker]

I was kind of hoping for a DH to make up for last week's rain out.

Not sure you will find many coaches very excited about playing a mid-week DH. Even a couple back-to-back mid-week games can stress your pitching staff a bit.

The only time the Shocks are scheduled to do that was when they played Northern Colorado mid-week between the LSU and Cal Poly series.

I guess the Shocks are going to have to do it again if they are going to make up the OSU game. The Shockers have 1 mid-week game every week between now and the end of the regular season. OSU has two weeks in the 1st half of May in which they do not have mid-week games scheduled. Look for OSU to try to put the game in one of those slots if they can. Whether HCTB will go for that or just decide to forget it remains to be seen. If OSU insists on that it would put the game on Wednesday, May 2nd after playing at K-State on Tuesday or Wednesday, May 9th after hosting ORU on Tuesday.

With OSU off to a 1-5 start in Big 12 play they probably won't be real anxious on doubling up in the middle of the week nor would I think that would be too appealing to the Shocks in the middle of Valley play either.

[shockfan89_]

Completely agree, although I remember a time when we played 6 games per week and sometimes 7 if there was a makeup for a rainout. We used to view this as a good test for the post-season. Remember the days of facing a ranked Big 8 or Big 12 opponent mid-week using our #5 starter against one of their weekend starters? We would run a Fr out to the mound that sometimes came from their backyard and was overlooked and not offered by them to pitch their butt off. We could see mid-week what our weekend rotation would look like in a few years. Man I miss those days. Now my goal is to learn the names/numbers of the players by the end of the season... I hope we can get back to the days of having a baseball program and not a baseball team!!!

[1972Shocker]

Completely agree, although I remember a time when we played 6 games per week and sometimes 7 if there was a makeup for a rainout. We used to view this as a good test for the post-season. Remember the days of facing a ranked Big 8 or Big 12 opponent mid-week using our #5 starter against one of their weekend starters? We would run a Fr out to the mound that sometimes came from their backyard and was overlooked and not offered by them to pitch their butt off. We could see mid-week what our weekend rotation would look like in a few years. Man I miss those days. Now my goal is to learn the names/numbers of the players by the end of the season... I hope we can get back to the days of having a baseball program and not a baseball team!!!

Yeah those were in the unlimited schedule days where the Shocks might play 80 games a season. From 1978 through 1991 the Shocks averaged 75 games a season. Played 87 games in 1982 and 88 games in 1985. What I don't remember is whether or not we had the roster and scholarship limits that are in place today. My guess is that they were not as restrictive back then.

However, there were some things about those particular glory days I wasn't that fond of. For example, in 1982 we played 38 games against Non-D1 opponents including Grand Canyon, St. Edwards (2), Fort Hays (4), Wayne State (2), Denver (2), Baker (2), Minnesota-Morris (3), William Jewell (2), Bemidji State (2), NE Oklahoma (2), Winona State (2), NW Missouri (2), Marymount (2), Emporia State (3), Phillips (2), Oklahoma City (2), Kansas Newman and Texas Wesleyan (2).

Denver is D-1 now but I don't think they were then. The Shocks beat them 24-0 and 16-0.

The Shocks went 36-2 in these games with an average score of 12.7 to 2.7. The Shocks lost to Wiliam Jewell 3-5 in the front end of a DH. Won the back end of that DH 20-1. The Shocks also lost a 4-7 game to NW MIssouri in the front end of a DH and edged NW Missouri 8-6 in the second game. I think NW Missouri was the most competitive team of this group. Just like the Valley blowouts in Men's basketball this year after awhile those just aren't very interesting.

The Shocks had a great year in 1982 going 73-14. However, against D-1 competition they were 37-12. 24-11 in the regular season and a fantastic 13-1 in the post season (including 6-0 in the Valley Tournament). A very good season and an outstanding post-season but not quite as bright and shiny as a 73-14 record may indicate on the surface.

Personally, I'm glad we don't have that kind of scheduling anymore. I believe the last Non-D1 game the Shocks played was a 12-1 win over Kansas Wesleyan in May 2013. The Shocks played no Non-D1 opponents in 2012 or 2011 but played Tabor, Bethany and Rogers State in 2010. Quite a different environment nowadays.

[shockfan89_]

I was thinking more the mid to late 90's and early 2000's when we still had the 4 game MVC series and played a game or two during the mid-week. There may have been a few non-D1 games mixed in (especially Friends and Newman) but the exciting ones were OU, OSU, NU, Arkansas, and ORU. KU and KSU weren't very exciting back then but back then it was really fun to attend the mid-week games.

[1972Shocker]

Do you remember what the roster and scholarship limitations were in those days?

[shockfan89_]

I thought we were at 13 or even 11.7 but I don't recall. It is crazy for the limits to be so low for baseball.

I hope we can get that atmosphere back but I think it will take the AD lowering ticket prices to get more fans in the stands. I'm sure a name like Wedge, Hooper, and Standiford in the dugout would also help but just not sure that's in the cards.

[1972Shocker]

I thought we were at 13 or even 11.7 but I don't recall. It is crazy for the limits to be so low for baseball.

I hope we can get that atmosphere back but I think it will take the AD lowering ticket prices to get more fans in the stands. I'm sure a name like Wedge, Hooper, and Standiford in the dugout would also help but just not sure that's in the cards.

I think where the big changes may have been is a roster limit of 35, a limit of 27 scholarship players and a minmum scholarship of 25% per player. Those are relatively recent changes I think.

But I agree whether it 13 or 11.7 that is too low. With a roster limit of 35 the scholarship limit should be no less than 17.5 with as many as 35 players on scholarship.

[1972Shocker]

Any thoughts on how they will break up the pitching tonight against Okie State?

I'm thinking perhaps a predetermined split between Connor Lungtwitz, Keylan Kilgore and Willie Schwanke although I have no idea in what order. I might be tempted to give Willie another shot at starting to see what he can do. The bullpen can finish up as needed and game flow dictates.

If they do go with those 3 guys I would have Keylan in the middle so you go righty-lefty-righty.

Willie hasn't seen any action since his disastrous 1 inning stint in the first game of the Texas Tech series. If Willie doesn't see action tonight you have to wonder what is going on with him. Is it just that the coaching staff has lost confidence in him or is he hurt again?

[Play Angry]

Anyone heard anything on Segal lately? Guessing the coaching staff is rapidly approaching the point where if he cannot contribute ASAP, it's time to take the RS.

[1972Shocker]

Anyone heard anything on Segal lately? Guessing the coaching staff is rapidly approaching the point where if he cannot contribute ASAP, it's time to take the RS.

Could be they will. Problem with a RS for Alex is that you might only get 2 years out of him. He was 18 years and 2 months on the 2016 Draft date according to Perfect Game. If you redshirt him in 2017 then he will be 21 years and 2 months when the 2019 draft rolls at the end of his RS sophomore year and I think he would be draft eligible.

So if you think he is that good (he was drafted in Round 38 out of high school) and he is healthy you might want to get what you can out of him this year in addition to the next two years.

However, the last thing I heard on Alex was that he had forearm tightness but they did not think it was serious. Well that has been quite awhile back so it is apparently more serious than they thought. That forearm tightness rarely seems to lead to good things.

[1972Shocker]

Well Willie Schwanke is getting a start tonight but not on the mound. He will start as the DH tonight.

Shane said he thought there was an outside chance Willie would start on the mound. However, Keylan Kilgore will get the start.

Sounds like the Shocks will most likely split it up on the mound. DHing doesn't preclude Willie from pitching later in the game.

Jacob Katsfy, who has been the hottest hitting Shocker, not in the lineup tonight due to a "stiff" back that he couldn't get loose.

[Shockers5150]

2 on, 1 out for OSU...Double and hbp

[Shockers5150]

Soft fly out to short
2 down