CLEARWATER, Fla. – Wichita State baseball saw its 2021 season come to an end after falling to the Tulane Green Wave, 12-2 in seven innings, in an elimination game in the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Friday, May 28, at BayCare Ballpark.
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Wichita State ends its season with an overall record of 31-23, including an 18-13 record in The American – the most wins the Shockers have had in the AAC since joining the conference before the 2018 season. WSU's third-place finish in the conference regular season standings also marks a program-best since joining the AAC.
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Senior
Corrigan Bartlett went 2-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and an RBI, while junior
Garrett Kocis drove in a run and doubled, pacing Wichita State at the plate.
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WSU senior right-handed pitcher
Preston Snavely (4-7) suffered the loss on the mound after giving up four earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in 3 1/3 innings.
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After Tulane (30-23) took a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first, the Shockers answered in the top of the second, tying the contest, 1-1, after Bartlett hit a solo homer deep to left field. It was his seventh home run of the season.
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Wichita State took the lead, 2-1, in the top of the fourth when Bartlett hit a two-out single to right field before scoring on Kocis's RBI double to right-center.
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The Green Wave took control of the game in the bottom-half of the inning though, plating four runs to open up a 5-2 advantage.
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Tulane went on to tally seven runs in the bottom of the fifth and kept WSU from scoring in the sixth and seventh, invoking the conference's seven-inning, run-rule to end the game.
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Chase Engelhard went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a game-best four RBI, leading the Green Wave offensively.
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Tulane right-handed starter Braden Olthoff (6-3) pitched a seven-inning, complete-game to earn the win on the rubber, allowing two earned runs on six hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks on 107 pitches.
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The Green Wave advance to the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship semifinals with the win and will face South Florida Saturday.
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