Good morning! We hope you’re this excited about getting your week excited. This weekend was sweet for many of our student-athletes walking the stage for graduation. Congrats grads, you will always be a part of the Shocker family!

What else are we tossing into today’s Brew?

⚾️ Locked and Loaded
👟 Back To Back
​🌾 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Locked and Loaded. After suffering a close loss on Friday night, the Shockers stepped up to the plate (literally) during their double-header Saturday.

In Game 1, WSU fell behind early surrendering a run in the first, but starter Payton Tolle cleaned things up after that and allowed just five hits on ten strikeouts during his seven innings of work. The team rallied around him with run support in the middle innings of the game thanks to Brock Rodden’s four RBI game, and a solo homer from Seth Stroh.

Payton Tolle had possibly the play of the day on offense with a towering 491-foot blast over the parking lot to give him home run number 12 on the season. The Shockers headed into game two with the series tied after a 9-2 afternoon win.

Game two was more of the same for the Shocker offense. Grant Adler took the mound and gave the team a solid six innings of work, striking out eight and allowing just one run. Payton Tolle got the day started with another home run in the first, but it was the seven-run fourth inning that broke the game wide open for WSU. It was a team effort as seven Shockers recorded at least one RBI on the day, and the team cruised to a 12-1 victory to secure the series win.

With the series dub, the Shockers sit just two games out of first place in the AAC with just three games left to play in the regular season. The Shockers will head to Orlando to close out the season next weekend to determine final seeding for the AAC Tournament later next week.

🔼 Back To Back. For the second time in as many years, WSU men’s track and field are AAC Champions, knocking off Houston for a two point tournament win. How do you celebrate back to back conference championships? With a surprise Gatorade dump of course!

The title clinching race came from the 4×400 relay where the Shockers placed third thanks to a 3:10.46 time that gave the team the edge they needed to take home the hardware. The weekend as a whole was a team effort, with depth being the determining factor for WSU’s win. Multiple Shockers picked up points in multiple events including Yuben Goncalves who placed top-3 in the triple jump, long jump, and 400 meter hurdles.

Not to get lost in the shuffle was Destiny Masters who:

• Set two meet records

• Set the Heptathlon stadium record

• Became an AAC Champion

Masters accumulated 5,557 points and moved up to No. 4 all-time in WSU history. She now ranks 27th in the NCAA, and takes her momentum into the NCAA West Preliminaries.

🔼 Down But Not Out. In the semifinals of the AAC Tournament, Shocker softball fell to Tulsa in extra innings.

It was a hard fought, defensive battle as Lauren Howell gave WSU her best over eight solid innings. She allowed just seven hits and struck out five in the contest. Tulsa lead off the scoring in the top of the third, but the Shockers answered right back with a Lauren Lucas RBI single to bring the runner home and tie the game up at one apiece.

The game would stay tied until the first inning of extra innings when Tulsa drove in a run in the top of the eighth. The Shockers were unable to respond, and were ultimately eliminated from the tournament. Lucas and Kristyn Nelson combined for four of the team’s five hits in the outing. The season isn’t over however, as the Shockers turn to NCAA Regionals where they will compete for a chance at an NCAA title.

🤔 SHOCKER TRIVIA

The Road Ahead. Graduation is an important milestone in the lives of all students, and today, we want to celebrate all of our student-athletes who accomplished that milestone.

The question today—can you guess how many Shocker athletes walked the stage and received their diplomas?

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

🌾 ONE BIG THING

For the third consecutive year, the No. 20 Shockers are headed to NCAA Regionals. WSU will head to Stillwater, OK to face off against Nebraska for their first game of the tournament on Friday, May 19th. The region is comprised of Nebraska, UMBC, and Oklahoma State, who is acting as host for the Shockers.

You may or may not know this, but WSU is undefeated this season against Oklahoma State, and will be one of the bigger storylines of this region should the two face off later in pool play. For now though, the 43 win, regular season AAC Champion Shockers will focus on just one game at a time. Buckle up Shocker fans, this weekend is going to be big.

📬 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 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

📅 THE DAYS AHEAD

Monday 5/15

No scheduled events

Tuesday 5/16

No scheduled events

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 49!

WSU had 49 student-athletes from each of our athletics programs hear their name called on stage this past weekend. Best of luck to all of our newest Shocker alumni, and we can’t wait to see what’s next!

Have a great Monday, y’all.