Good morning! Unfortunately, the weather robbed us of a potential all-time great softball matchup with the #1 team in the nation. But have no fear, we have a little something here that’s sure to turn that frown upside down.

What else are we tossing into today’s Brew?

😁 Joy to the Shockers
🏀 A little Midwestern hospitality
​🌾 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Golden Carpet Awards. Wichita State held its 10th-annual Gold Carpet Awards to honor its student-athletes and all the hard-work that each of them has put in the past 12 months. Here are a few of the winners from the night:

• Mr. Shocker: Orel Ovil (Tennis)

• Ms. Shocker: Kayce Litzau (Volleyball)

• Moment of the Year: 2022 Men’s Track and Field AAC Championship

• Male Athlete of the Year: Brock Brodden (Baseball)

• Female Athlete of the Year: Addison Barnard (Softball)

• Performance of the Year: Addison Barnard breaks all-time home run record with 58 HR’s in just 127 games.

Student-athletes put their blood, sweat, and tears into each of their sports, and they deserve to be awarded. Congrats to the winners, and we can’t wait to see if anyone can go back-to-back next year.

🔼 Joy To The Shockers. Nigerian prospect Joy Ighovodja is headed to the sunflower state to join the Shockers basketball team. The young guard, who has competed with some of the best prospects in Senegal, is coming from the NBA’s Academy Africa.

Joy, who only started playing basketball four years ago, has been competing with peers from across the globe to help hone his natural abilities, and gain some technical ones too. Head coach Paul Mills had this to say about him after announcing his commitment, “Joy has a terrific skillset combined with great length for a guard his size and will be a force for many years to come.”

As one of just 16 NBA Africa prospects to sign with a D1 school in the program’s seven year history, Ighovodja will look to prove to his colleagues and new teammates that he has what it takes to play at a high level.

🔼 Diamond Preview. The Shockers, who did not get to play Tuesday night, now quickly shift focus for tonight’s matchup against our cross-state competitors, Kansas. Luckily for WSU, there couldn’t be more momentum on their side if they tried.

The newly top-25 ranked Shockers come in to the game with a solid 14-7 home record and six game win streak. WSU’s Male Athlete of the Year Brock Rodden and AAC Player of the Week Payton Tolle are scorching hot from the plate, boasting a combined 20 home runs and 84 RBI’s. Six out of nine current starters currently sit above a .300 batting average, so the Jayhawks may have a bit of trouble keeping this team off the bases.

Speaking of Kansas, the Jayhawks enter the non-conference matchup a little bruised after suffering a series sweep from Oklahoma State this past weekend. They currently stand just below .500 on the season, but have a pair of consistent hitters of their own in Kodey Shojinaga and Chase Jans that could give the Shockers a bit of their own medicine if they aren’t careful.

The matchup will take place tonight at Eck Stadium at 6:00pm. Get your tickets here or tune in live on ESPN+ to see if the Shockers can continue their incredible April run.

🔼 Midwestern Hospitality. They say you can never have too much of a good thing, and whoever ‘they’ is would be right. More basketball is headed to Charles Koch Arena in the form of The Basketball Tournament, or better known as TBT.

The 64-team league, famous for its $1 million winner-take-all finals, announced its Wichita Regional schedule that will take place at the Shockers’ home court. The tournament will even stick around to host a bonus quarterfinal matchup. WSU’s alumni team, the AfterShocks, consisting of former players Conner Frankamp, Darral Williams, Samajae Haynes-Jones, and Markis McDuffie will serve as the regional host team.

This year will mark the fourth summer in a row that WSU has hosted a TBT regional group. All the TBT action will begin this summer on July 20th, but you can reserve your tickets as soon as May 4th here!

🤔 SHOCKER TRIVIA

Building The Squad. Paul Mills has officially started his head coaching duties by signing his first prospect of his class to start the build of a successful team this upcoming season. While Ighovodja is a great add, he isn’t the highest rated player to come through Wichita State’s program.

The question today — do you know who the highest ranked recruit in WSU basketball history is?

Think you got it? Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

🌾 ONE BIG THING

To say this past weekend was a success for the Shockers out on the diamond would be an understatement. Both teams are ranked in the top 25, swept their weekend series’, and have all the momentum to potentially take the AAC title. Just so you can visualize the success, here is a breakdown of every award the Shockers came away with:

• AAC Player of the Week: Payton Tolle

• Perfect Game USA’s Pitcher of the Week: Payton Tolle

• AAC Pitcher of the Week: Grant Adler

• AAC Pitcher of the Week: Alex Aguilar

• AAC Weekly Honor Roll: Lauren Lucas

• AAC Weekly Honor Roll: Garrett Pennington

That’s a star studded group if we’ve ever seen one! Congrats to all the athletes, but baseball head coach Loren Hibbs said it best: “we’re just getting started.”

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Shocker Brew? Well, the first thing you should do is thank them. The next thing you should do is subscribe here and get it in your inbox every weekday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

📅 THE DAY AHEAD

Wednesday 4/26

⚾️ Baseball vs. Kansas @ Wichita, KS | ESPN+ | Tickets

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Fred VanVleet!

FVV came into the program from the class of 2012 as a four-star recruit and the 81st best player in the country. Obviously, he’s doing big things now in the NBA; we knew he would be big time all along.

Have a great Wednesday, y’all!