May 15: Shockers back on top

WSU Starter Bryan Oelkers

With teams like LSU and Miami cooling off after a strong April, the Wichita State Shockers have sustained their strong performance to pull away to a comfortable five-game margin over the Tigers and Texas A&M.    Why is this team proving to be so successful, among the many greats in this league?  The answer seems to be that the Shockers get on base, and once they're there they wreak havoc.  The squad's team batting average of .279 easily leads the league--which has a collective BA of .238, with the strong pitching staffs tending to dominate the hitters thus far in the season.  The team also rules the OBP category, being second in the league in walks.  And finally, the stolen bases category belongs to WSU, with Loren Hibbs leading the league with 39 steals by mid-May.  The net result is that this team scores runs, with their total of 258 far outdistancing the runner-up in this area, Texas A&M, which has 185.

And of course it helps that the pitching is not too shabby, either.  The Shockers team ERA of 3.13 is the league's 3rd best.  Although staff ace Don Heinkel (4-4, 2.26) has been on the short end of some pitching duels, Bryan Oelkers (8-1, 2.26, 94 SO in 83 IP) has been dominating, and if the starters can get the game into the hands of closer Greg LaFever (0.64, 9 SV), the game is over.  The Shockers were the winningest team of all-time in college baseball, a distinction they may hold forever because they played in an era preceding contemporary NCAA restrictions on the number of games that teams are allowed to schedule.  Even so, their performance to this point suggests that their success wasn't just a result of quantity, but also quality--this was a team with great balance across the lineup and staff, and so far other teams are having trouble keeping pace. 

 College Greats League Standings

Year      Team                     W    L    PCT   GB   L10  STRK  
1982      Wichita State Shockers   29   12   .707  -    8-2  W5    
1997      LSU Tigers               24   17   .585  5.0  5-5  W1    
1989      Texas A&M Aggies         24   17   .585  5.0  6-4  L1    
1967      Arizona State Sun Devils 23   18   .561  6.0  7-3  W5    
2001      Miami Hurricanes         21   20   .512  8.0  3-7  W1    
1995      Cal State Fullerton Titan19   22   .463  10.0 5-5  L2    
1971      USC Trojans              18   23   .439  11.0 4-6  L2    
1983      Texas Longhorns          17   24   .415  12.0 4-6  W2    
1985      Miss State Bulldogs      16   25   .390  13.0 4-6  L3    
1985      Oklahoma State Cowboys   14   27   .341  15.0 4-6  L1    

College Greats Team Batting Statistics-Wichita State Shockers)

Last       First    AVE   G   AB   SO  BB  H   2B  3B HR R   RBI SB E   
Thomas     Jim      .250  41  172  27  16  43  6   5  0  26  30  27 6   
Hibbs      Loren    .322  41  171  29  28  55  10  3  1  39  20  39 5   
O'Brien    Charlie  .280  41  168  19  11  47  12  1  9  34  46  9  3   
Stephenson Phil     .325  41  157  25  30  51  15  0  4  33  36  29 0   
Morman     Russ     .258  41  155  35  31  40  9   3  7  36  28  19 3   
Lucas      Dave     .280  41  150  14  22  42  14  2  0  16  24  7  7   
Spring     Jim      .250  41  144  20  17  36  2   3  1  23  20  7  14  
Gaskell    Tim      .317  41  139  15  17  44  10  1  0  21  22  4  7   
Penner     Kevin    .150  24  80   12  14  12  2   0  1  11  8   7  0   
Mann       Jeff     .238  14  42   14  7   10  5   2  0  9   6   2  0   
Grogan     Mark     .400  15  35   5   9   14  2   0  0  10  7   5  4   
-          -        .279  496 1413 215 202 394 87  20 23 258 247 15 49  

**Team Pitching Stats** - Wichita State Shockers
Last      First  ERA   G   GS CG W  L  SV IP    SO  BB  H    R    ER  
Oelkers   Bryan  2.26  11  11 1  8  1  0  83.2  94  52  52   22   21  
Heinkel   Don    2.26  11  11 0  4  4  0  79.2  67  27  70   24   20  
Sonberg   Erik   1.71  9   9  0  4  1  0  63.1  65  33  58   15   12  
Brown     Stan   3.61  22  4  0  8  2  5  52.1  34  22  48   25   21  
Howerton  Troy   9.27  27  1  0  2  4  0  33.0  29  12  55   40   34  
Greenwood Ken    4.83  17  3  0  1  0  2  31.2  16  24  32   20   17  
LaFever   Greg   0.64  13  0  0  0  0  9  14.0  14  7   7    2    1   
Schulte   Frank  2.57  2   2  0  1  0  0  14.0  11  12  8    6    4   
Brogan    Jeff   0.00  3   0  0  1  0  2  1.2   0   1   0    0    0   
-         -      3.13  115 41 1  29 12 18 373.1 330 190 330  154  130