High Hopes for Home Runs

Interim Shocker baseball coach Loren Hibbs hopes small-town values will help him return the program to the big time. Hibbs grew up in Wellington, where his dad was a coach and he was a four-sport star athlete known as “Scooter” prior to playing at Wichita State 1982–84. 

“When you grow up in a smaller community, you learn a lot of good core values,” Hibbs said. “You learn work ethic, you learn how to deal with people in the community.”

Hibbs took over the program in December after the abrupt resignation of former coach Eric Wedge for what was termed “personal health-related reasons.” The Shockers went 21–36 last year and haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2013, legendary coach Gene Stephenson’s last year at the helm.

“It’s going to be one of the toughest (schedules) in the country. But man, we welcome that.” — Loren Hibbs, interim Shocker baseball coach

Hibbs served as an assistant coach under Stephenson from 1985–92, then spent 27 years as head coach for the Charlotte 49ers at the University of North Carolina before returning to work under Wedge for two years. Hibbs was the Charlotte program’s all-time winningest coach, with 15 seasons of 30 or more wins and five trips to the NCAA tournament.

For 2023, the Shockers’ best player last year — slugging second baseman Brock Rodden — is back and was named Third Team Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball. Seven position players and four pitchers who started also return along with 19 newcomers. 

“We’ve got three or four position players who played a lot last year,” Hibbs said. “But we’ve also got some newcomers we think are going to help out.”

Hibbs called this year’s schedule “very, very challenging,” with games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oral Roberts, Long Beach State and UMass on the bill, along with American Athletic Conference foes such as East Carolina, Houston and Central Florida. 

“It’s going to be one of the toughest (schedules) in the country,” he said. “But man, we welcome that.”

The first month of that schedule produced mixed results, with the Shockers going 9–7 through mid-March. Opening the season out west, the squad lost all three opening games against a trio of opponents, but bounced back to win two of those series (against Utah Tech and Oakland). Other highlights included a 6–2 home win against Oklahoma — last year’s College World Series runner-up — and a memorable two-way performance by sophomore Payton Tolle, who struck out 10 batters while getting five hits himself in a game against Oakland.

The Shockers’ conference season kicks off in April with road games against Cincinnati and Tulane and home contests against Houston, East Carolina and Memphis. Sandwiched between nonconference games against Kansas, K-State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, it’s easily the toughest four weeks they’ll face.

Despite his success in Charlotte, Hibbs said the lure of returning to WSU was too much to pass up. As a player, he set an NCAA record for runs scored in a year that still stands (125 in 1982). “Even during those 27 years I spent in Charlotte, I was a Shocker. Hopefully the Wichita fanbase can relate to that because I’m a product of the program here.”

His wife, Lisa, who worked as director of athletic academics in Charlotte, has taken a similar job at Friends University. Two of the couple’s grown children stayed in Charlotte while their youngest daughter is working for WSU and “living in our basement for free,” Hibbs noted.

Hibbs, by the way, wouldn’t mind if the “interim” tag was removed from his job title at some point, but said that’s not his primary goal.

“I love doing this. The reality is the focus is really on this year and trying to bring stability to this program. It’s been really about a decade since there’s been stability here.”