ARLINGTON, Texas - Wichita State traveled to Texas only to continue their battle with cold weather. The Shockers defeated Texas Southern 8-5, before play at the UT-Arlington Classic was suspended for the remainder of the day.

Outfielders Kersti Rowan and Kiersten Dixon led the Shockers with a combined five hits, three runs scored and two RBI. Junior catcher Heather Gerritse's grandslam in the second inning did the majority of the damage from there.

First baseman Gianna Robinson led the Tigers with a two RBI triple and a run scored.

The Shockers didn't need much time to bust open the game, using Gerritse's grandslam in the top of the second to push the Shockers out to a 7-1 lead. Rowan and Dixon each tagged a pair of RBI singles to lay the foundation for the big inning. Gerritse scored them both when her bomb to center cleared the bases.

Texas Southern responded with a run in the following at bat but tacked on three more in the bottom of the third to shrink the Shocker lead, 8-4. Robinson's two-run triple powered the offense in the inning.

Shocker starter Katie Armagost's outing ended after the Tigers' rally, and junior pitcher Brianna Smet took over to start the bottom of the fourth. Smet worked quickly through the first two batters before a costly error put a runner on for Tenesha Skrine's RBI double to shorten the Shocker lead further, 8-5.

With two on and nobody out in the Shocker sixth, play was halted by a 40-minute rain delay sending both teams to their buses to warm up. With the rain beginning to fall harder, but a full day of games on the schedule, the umpires resumed play. The Shocks put together a big inning when they continued their at bat, but the game was called before the Tigers had their turn to bat to nullify the top half of the sixth.

All games for the UT-Arlington Classic are suspended until Saturday morning. The Shockers 10 am game time originally scheduled for Saturday has now been moved to 9am when they will take on Prairie View A&M.

-Wichita State-