‘We’re doing something special’: Shocker baseball advances in AAC tournament bracket

Losing the first game in the American Athletic Conference baseball tournament is almost certainly a death sentence to a team’s chances of winning a championship.

That’s why Wichita State limited ace Caden Favors to just three innings, and 48 pitches, in last Friday’s start at Memphis. There was no way the senior who returned to finish his career with the Shockers would let anyone else take the ball with essentially the season on the line.

“It’s time for this program to get back to what it used to be,” Favors said. “We’re doing something special here and I just wanted to keep it going and hopefully get the job done this weekend.”

Favors was brilliant once again Tuesday morning, limiting No. 5 seed UAB to a single run in six-plus innings of work to help No. 4 seed Wichita State collect an 8-2 victory in the opening game of the AAC tournament in Clearwater, Florida.

The victory earned WSU a day off before facing top-seeded and top-10 nationally ranked ECU (41-13) at noon Central on Thursday. With the victory, the Shockers (30-27) also managed to match last season’s win total with almost an entirely new roster under first-year head coach Brian Green and advance to the winner’s bracket for the first time since 2019.

After losing 17 of 21 games at one point, WSU has bounced back to win eight of its last nine games.

“It’s so important to win that first one for your confidence, but also with the format of this tournament, it really sets up where you have to win that first game,” Green said. “If you don’t, it’s such a challenge to come back. For us, we treated this like a must-win and that’s why we kept Caden fresh. Now we’re in the winner’s bracket and more importantly, we get a day off.”

While WSU decided to throw its ace in the opening game, UAB opted to save its ace Blayze Berry, who was a unanimous all-league pitcher with a 9-2 record and 2.71 ERA, and instead throw No. 2 starter, Colin Daniel, who was a second-team all-league pitcher with a 7-3 record and 3.05 ERA.

WSU took an early lead in the game with a big second inning, as Josh Livingston led off with a double, Mauricio Millan followed with a single and Camden Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A throwing error plated the first run, while Dayvin Johnson drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk and Jordan Rogers was plunked by a pitch to score another run and stake WSU to an early 3-0 lead.

That’s all the run support Favors needed, as he stranded runners on third in two consecutive innings and pitched a shutout through six innings. UAB finally ran him from the game in the top of the seventh, but reliever Hunter Holmes managed to escape the jam after surrendering a single run to preserve a 4-1 lead.

Favors struck out seven hitters, giving him 102 on the season and making him the first WSU pitcher to eclipse 100 strikeouts in a season since 2011. He improved to 9-4 this season and lowered his ERA to 3.06.

“I wouldn’t want this season to go any other way,” Favors said. “When I was weighing my options (after last season), I heard nothing but good things about this staff and I’m glad I bought in and they gave me a chance to show what I could do. We’re just all playing for each other right now. I’ve been on a lot of talented teams and this one just feels different. These guys are so fun to be around and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I’m hoping we can make something good out of this week.”

The knockout punch didn’t come until the bottom of the seventh inning: first a towering, two-run home run by Livingston, his eighth of the season, followed by another two-run shot by Seth Stroh, his 11th of the year. In two swings, WSU doubled its production and expanded its lead to 8-1 and Nate Adler secured the final five outs to put the game away without any drama.

“It could have been hairy there with a 4-1 lead, you get two on and then the tying run is up at the plate,” Green said. “After Livvy hit his, it was just such a different game. There was a sigh of relief. And then Seth just put on the exclamation point.”

Freshman star Tommy LaPour (5-3, 4.12 ERA) will throw for WSU in Thursday’s game against ECU, where a win would buy the team another day of rest while a loss would send the Shockers to an elimination game on Friday.

After another quality start on Tuesday, which included 113 pitches, Favors was already clamoring for the ball again.

“I want the ball anytime I can help my team,” Favors said. “I’d rather throw everything out there on the line and compete for it all, if I feel like I can give us a good chance to win, I’m going to want to do that.”

“We want to go to a regional,” Green added. “Caden already told us he wants to go again and that’s just the type of guy he is. If we win on Thursday, then that’s going to change how we shape up our pitching.”