| Wichita State Shockers | |
|---|---|
 2025 Wichita State Shockers baseball team | |
 | |
| Founded | 1899 |
| University | Wichita State University |
| Head coach | Brian Green (2nd season) |
| Conference | The American |
| Location | Wichita, Kansas |
| Home stadium | Eck Stadium (Capacity: 7,851) |
| Nickname | Shockers |
| Colors | Black and yellow[1] |
| College World Series champions | |
| 1989 | |
| College World Series runner-up | |
| 1982, 1991, 1993 | |
| College World Series appearances | |
| 1982, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996 | |
| NCAA regional champions | |
| 1982, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2007, 2008 | |
| NCAA tournament appearances | |
| 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013* | |
| Conference tournament champions | |
| 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2013* | |
| Conference regular season champions | |
| 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010 *vacated by NCAA | |
TheWichita State Shockers baseball team representsWichita State University in the sport ofbaseball. The Wichita State Shockers compete inDivision I of theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and in theAmerican Athletic Conference after 72 seasons in theMissouri Valley Conference.[2]
The Shockers have made theCollege World Series seven times, winning the national championship in 1989.[3] Wichita State has the eleventh-highest winning percentage in NCAA Division I baseball history at .646. That percentage currently leads theAmerican Athletic Conference.[4]
Wichita State, then Fairmount College, played its first college baseball game on April 14, 1899, againstSouthwestern College.[5] For the first three years, they were coached byHarry Hess, who was also the head football coach at the time.
Over the next two decades, the program would cycle through a number of coaches, none finding particular success or lasting more than 4 years.[5] Wichita would produce twoMajor League Baseball players during that time inClaude Hendrix andLloyd Bishop.[6]
After the 1923 season, the baseball program was shut down.[6]
Having since joined theMissouri Valley Conference, Wichita decided to re-launch their baseball program for the 1948 season.[6] Over the next 23 seasons, Wichita would struggle through a number of coaching changes and middling success, only once finishing at the top of the MVC's West Division.[3]
After the 1970 season, the baseball program was again shut down.[6]
The modern era of Wichita State baseball began in 1977, whenOklahoma Sooners assistant coachGene Stephenson was hired to run the program beginning with the 1978 season.[6] Stephenson had been recruiting coordinator and hitting instructor for the Sooners underEnos Semore and helped lead Oklahoma to fiveCollege World Series appearances.[7]
In just Stephenson's third season, led by three-time All-AmericanJoe Carter, Wichita State qualified for the1980 NCAA Division I baseball tournament, the first tournament appearance in Shocker history.[6] In his fifth season, Stephenson led the Shockers all the way to the1982 College World Series, where they lost to theMiami Hurricanes in the championship game.[6] Ultimately, the Shockers won 73 games in 1982, setting the NCAA record for wins in a single season.[6] In 1988, Stephenson again led Wichita State to theCollege World Series before being eliminated by theArizona State Sun Devils in the semi-finals.
In 1989, led by All-AmericansEric Wedge,Greg Brummett,Mike Lansing, and Mike McDonald, the Shockers returned to theCollege World Series and won the national championship, defeating theTexas Longhorns in the championship game.[6] To date, it is the only team national title ever won by a Shocker team in any sport.
From 1991 to 1993, led by multi-year All-Americans Chris Wimmer,Doug Mirabelli, andDarren Dreifort, the Shockers made three consecutive trips to theCollege World Series, finishing as the runners-up to theLSU Tigers in both1991 and1993.[6] Wichita State made their seventh and most-recent tip to theCollege World Series in 1996.[3]
Since 1996, the Shockers have had quite a bit of success, with 12 NCAA tournament appearances, including Super Regional Appearances in2007 and2008, but have failed to reach the same heights they found during the 1980s and 1990s.[3] Since 1980, Wichita State trails onlyFlorida State in total wins and winning percentage
On July 11, 2005, Stephenson announced he was returning to Oklahoma as head coach, but decided to return to Wichita State just hours after his introductory press conference, citing concerns with Oklahoma's scholarship situation.[8]
After 36 years, WSU fired Stephenson on June 4, 2013.[9] Stephenson was fired after making the NCAA tournament for a 28th time, though that appearance was later stripped by the NCAA.[10]
Todd Butler was hired as just the second coach of WSU baseball's modern era 12 days after Stephenson was fired.[11] Butler had served as an assistant atArkansas over the past eight seasons. Butler's teams struggled initially, posting losing records in three of his first four seasons, the only three sub-.500 years since Stephenson had restarted the program.[12]
In 2018, third basemanAlec Bohm was drafted in the First Round by thePhiladelphia Phillies. The Shockers won 35 games in 2018, the best season under Butler.
Butler was fired following the 2019 season in which the Shockers finished 28–31 after making the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. Butler finished his six-year tenure with a 169-180-1 record and did not make the NCAA tournament.[13]
In June, 2019, former Shocker All-American catcher, and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of FamerEric Wedge was hired as the third baseball coach in Wichita State modern era history. Wedge led the Shockers to a 13–2 season cut short by theCOVID-19 pandemic. The Shockers were ranked 30th in the country when the 2020 season was suspended and were a perfect 10–0 at Eck Stadium.[14]
On April 10, 2021, the Shockers hosted theUniversity of Houston in the first game played atWichita's Riverfront Stadium.[15]
| Coach | Years | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Hess | 1899–1901 | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 |
| C. P. Clark | 1902 | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 |
| Walter P. Frantz | 1904 | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 |
| A. F. Holste | 1905 | 9 | 6 | 2 | .600 |
| Willis Bates | 1906–1908, 1914 | 37 | 26 | 0 | .587 |
| Roy K. Thomas | 1909–1912 | 23 | 19 | 1 | .548 |
| E. V. Long | 1913 | 2 | 12 | 0 | .143 |
| Harry Buck | 1915–1916 | 3 | 9 | 1 | .250 |
| Lyle Sturdy | 1948 | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 |
| Ken Gunning | 1949–1951 | 9 | 25 | 0 | .265 |
| Robert S. Carlson | 1951 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 |
| Norvell Neve | 1951 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 |
| Dick Miller | 1952–1953, 1961 | 13 | 26 | 0 | .333 |
| Forrest Jensen | 1954–1955 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .444 |
| Jerry Bupp | 1956 | 4 | 13 | 0 | .235 |
| Ray Morrison | 1957–1960 | 54 | 44 | 0 | .551 |
| Verlyn Anderson | 1965–1970 | 67 | 71 | 1 | .486 |
| Gene Stephenson | 1978–2013 | 1798 | 647 | 3 | .735 |
| Todd Butler | 2014–2019 | 169 | 180 | 1 | .483 |
| Eric Wedge | 2020–2022 | 65 | 61 | 0 | .516 |
| Loren Hibbs | 2023 | 30 | 25 | 0 | .545 |
| Brian Green | 2024–present | 32 | 29 | 0 | .525 |
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Located in:Wichita, Kansas | ||
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