Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. - Wichita State rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Indiana State Sycamores, 7-3 to advance in the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference tournament at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.  The Shockers will next play on Thursday at 4 p.m. against the winner of the Indiana State/Illinois State game, which will be played at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Chris O'Brien blasted a two-run homer run to right field in the eighth inning to give the Shockers a 7-3 lead and put the game away.  O'Brien finished 1-for-4 with four RBIs with two runs scored and he extended his career-best hitting streak to 26 games.

Left-hander Brian Flynn tossed five innings to earn the win for the Shockers and he improved his record to 6-4 on the season.  The redshirt sophomore allowed three runs on five hits and struck out four and walked four.  TJ McGreevy went four innings to earn his third save of the season.

Sean Manaea took the loss for the Sycamores and his record fell to 5-5 on the season.  The left-hander only went 4.1 innings and allowed four runs (two earned) but walked seven batters to go along with six strikeouts.

Indiana State scored first in the game after Flynn hit leadoff hitter Kyle Burnam, allowed a single to Robby Ort and walked Jeremy Lucas to load the bases for the Sycamores in the first inning.  Indiana State first baseman Jon Hedges followed Lucas and ripped a single up the middle to plate Burnam and give the Sycamores a 1-0 lead.   The Sycamores added one more run in the inning after an RBI fielder's choice by Lucas Hileman to give them a 2-0 lead.

O'Brien cut the Indiana State lead to 2-1 in the third inning with a sacrifice fly to score Walker Davidson, who had led off the inning with a walk.

The Shockers bats were able to break through in the fifth inning and knock Manaea out of the game.  O'Brien, the 2011 MVC Player of the Year, tied the game with an RBI fielder's choice to score Tyler Grimes.  Grimes had drawn a walk to lead off the inning for the Shockers and he advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Kevin Hall and a throwing error by Hedges.  Wichita State took a 3-2 lead after Hall came in to score after another by Hedges on a ball hit by Preston Springer.  The Shockers added one more run on an RBI single by Don Lambert to push the lead to 4-2.

Indiana State got a run back in the bottom of the fifth after Hedges lined a shot off of the glove of Shockers third baseman Dayne Parker, the ball went down the left field line and allowed Ort to score to make it 4-3.  Ort had laced a single to right field to lead off the inning for the Sycamores.

In the seventh inning Wichita State scored a run with the help of two errors by Sycamores third baseman Koby Kraemer.  Coy hit a hard shot to lead off the inning that Kraemer mishandled.  A two-out single by Lambert brought up Shockers outfielder Micah Green, who hit a grounder that bounced over Kramer's head and rolled into left field to allow Coy to score and give WSU a 5-3 lead.

Lambert finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and Davidson was 1-for-2 with a run scored and two walks.

-WICHITA STATE-