Over the course of the past 10 years, Wichita State baseball has had considerable success against the Braves on the diamond.
The Braves had lost 19 consecutive games to Wichita State going in this past weekend’s series between the two schools, and it had been 13 years since the last time the men took a series from the Shockers.
That streak would increase to 20 straight games last Friday night. Junior Elliot Ashbeck took the mound in the series opener, but the ace failed to perfom at his usual level. Ashbeck went six innings while giving up 11 hits and five runs, including back-to-back home runs in the third inning.
However, Ashbeck was able to settle down and pitch well enough to keep the Braves in the game.
“He goes up against everyone else’s ace, so his margin for error is a lot smaller than anyone else’s on the staff,” head coach Elvis Dominguez said. “He settled down after the third inning and pretty much shut them out the rest of the way.”
However, the Braves weren’t able to generate enough offense on the night, and the men fell 5-3.
The next day proved to be different. Junior Steve Adkins was on the bump for game two of the series, and as soon as he stepped onto the field, he was in control. Adkins struck out the first four batters of the game, and his dominance continued from there. He went seven innings while allowing only three hits, two walks and no earned runs.
Sophomore Spencer Gaa swatted a home run in the fourth inning to give the Braves a lead they would not relinquish. Fellow sophomore Matt Dennis shut down the Shockers in the ninth inning to win the game 4-2. The win on Saturday set up a series finale Sunday with intense implications.
If the Braves were to win on Sunday, they would take their first series win against Wichita State since 2003, be third in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and be 16 games over .500 for the first time in almost 20 years.
These implications would be enough to put pressure on anyone, but not the Braves.
“Our guys are just focused on now,” Dominguez said. “They don’t care about yesterday, and they sure as heck don’t plan on the future. They try to do whatever’s at hand and are very unselfish in trying to get themselves in a position to win a ballgame.”
The Braves certainly felt pressure in the bottom of the fifth inning in Sunday’s game, as they were down 2-0 with runners on first and third and two outs. The Braves have struggled with runners in scoring position all year, but the Braves needed their hitters to come through then more than ever.
And come through, they did.
Gaa hit a 3-0 fastball through the left side to score their first run of the ballgame, and then Ashbeck stepped up to the plate. With a 3-2 count, the lefty clubbed a double off the wall in right field to plate both Gaa and senior Isaac Smith to take a 3-2 lead.
The Braves sealed the win once more as sophomore Matt Dennis struck out the side in the ninth to notch his fourth save in as many appearances last week. For Dennis’s efforts, he was honored as the MVC Pitcher of the Week.
“My job is to come in and get the last three outs and just throw strikes,” Dennis said. “My approach is just one pitch at a time. If I throw a ball on the first pitch, that pitch is over after that. If the first guy gets a hit, it’s over after that. You have to get the next guy.”
Dennis and the Braves will try to continue their streak this weekend as they host Evansville. Game one of the series is tonight at 6 p.m. at Dozer Park.
