ORLANDO -- After an early offensive outburst, Wichita State and UCF both went hitless over the final four innings as the Knights held on for a 5-4 win over the Shockers on Saturday night at John Euliano Park.
Seeding for the American Athletic Conference tournament had already been set prior to the game by virtue of results from around the league. Wichita State will be the #3 seed and open the tournament against #6-seeded Memphis. East Carolina claimed the regular season title by a half-game over #2 seed Houston, with UCF holding on to the #4 seed and Cincinnati checking in as the #5 seed. Tulane (#7) and South Florida (#8) round out the field.
Wichita State (30-23, 13-10) took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly from
Payton Tolle, but the lead proved to be short lived. UCF (32-24, 12-12) needed just three hitters in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 advantage, courtesy of an RBI double from Ben McCabe and a two-run homer from Andrew Sundean off Shocker starter
Clark Candiotti (7-4).
A two-out RBI single from McCabe in the second made it 4-1 in favor of the Knights.
The Shockers put together their best stretch of offense in the top of the fourth against UCF starter Dominic Castellano.
Kyte McDonald smoked an RBI double into left-center, plating Tolle and cutting the Knights edge to 4-2.
David Herring followed with a liner into left for a two-run single, knotting the score at 4-4. WSU loaded the bases later in the inning with two outs, but were turned away.
Drew Faurot put UCF back in front one pitch into the bottom of the frame, skying a solo home run to right to produce the final score.
WSU reliever
Caden Favors turned in one of his best performances of the season in relief, firing 4.0 hitless, scoreless innings with three strikeouts. After hitting the first batter he faced, Favors set down the final 11 UCF hitters.
The combination of Knights relievers Nick Viera (1-1) and Zach Chappell also held the Shockers without a hit over the final 5.1 innings, striking out 10 along the way. Chappell pitched around a two-out walk and a hit by pitch in the ninth for his first save.
Wichita State's postseason run will begin on Tuesday night in Clearwater at BayCare Ballpark. The Shockers play the final game of the day, with first pitch tentatively scheduled for 47 minutes after the conclusion of #2 Houston and #7 Tulane, which is scheduled for 3:00 pm CT.
