The RoundHouse | 5/20/2019 3:18:00 PM

 
Three things to watch this week at the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship:
 
Eighth-seeded Wichita State (26-29) opens play around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday vs. top-seeded East Carolina (42-13) in Clearwater, Fla.
 
The Shockers will start senior Clayton McGinness on Tuesday against ECU, ranked as high as sixth nationally. The Shockers need McGinness to continue his hot streak if they want to do some damage in the tournament. 

McGinness is pitching superbly over his past four appearances, including throwing a five-hitter in a 3-1 win over ECU earlier this month. On Thursday, he held USF to five hits and struck out a career-high eight over seven innings in a 7-6 win.
 
Over those past four appearances – three starts – McGinness compiled a 1.80 earned run average with 20 strikeouts and six walks. He lowered his season ERA from 5.24 on April 27 to its current 4.12.
 
With McGinness taking the lead role, the pitching staff is finishing the season on a positive note. Over the past 11 games, Wichita State compiled a .353 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 53 walks. 
 
The Shockers need somebody to drive in Luke Ritter and Mason O'Brien seems like the likeliest candidate. O'Brien, a senior first baseman, is producing steadily over the past two weeks.
 
O'Brien produced hits in 10 of his past 11 games and reached base in all 11. He hit three of his four home runs this season in that span, two in one game against UConn and the third in Saturday's 7-3 win over USF that clinched a spot in the tournament.
 
O'Brien, over the past nine games, is hitting .314 with a team-leading slugging percentage of .571.
 
Ritter, meanwhile, continues his standout senior season. He is hitting .335 overall and .293 in conference play. 
 
How does this week affect the conference's NCAA picture?
 
ECU is in and almost certainly on track to host a regional site.
 
It gets interesting after that. It appears the American is in good shape for three and a fourth is possible.
 
Baseball America and D1 Baseball place Houston and UConn in the field. An 0-2 record this week might change that prognosis. UCF, which D1 Baseball lists as one of the first five out of the field, is in a similar position. All three will feel much better if they are playing on Saturday or Sunday.
 
All that makes Tuesday's opener between fifth-seeded Houston and fourth-seeded UConn a big one. UCF, seeded sixth, opens against third-seeded Tulane.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.