Wichita State Shockers baseball

Early years: 1899–1923 Wichita State, then Fairmount College, played its first college baseball game on April 14, 1899, against Southwestern College. For the first three years, they were coached by Harry 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. After the 1970 season, the baseball program was again shut down. Stephenson had been recruiting coordinator and hitting instructor for the Sooners under Enos Semore and helped lead Oklahoma to five College World Series appearances. In just Stephenson's third season, led by three-time All-American Joe Carter, Wichita State qualified for the 1980 NCAA Division I baseball tournament, the first tournament appearance in Shocker history. After 36 years, WSU fired Stephenson on June 4, 2013. Stephenson was fired after making the NCAA tournament for a 28th time, though that appearance was later stripped by the NCAA. Post-Stephenson era: 2014–present Todd Butler was hired as just the second coach of WSU baseball's modern era 12 days after Stephenson was fired. Butler had served as an assistant at Arkansas 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. In 2018, third baseman Alec Bohm was drafted in the First Round by the Philadelphia 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. In June, 2019, former Shocker All-American catcher, and Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Famer Eric 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 the COVID-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. On April 10, 2021, the Shockers hosted the University of Houston in the first game played at Wichita's Riverfront Stadium. == Head coaches ==