WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State scored in six of their eight offensive innings and got three scoreless innings from the bullpen in a 9-5 win over Memphis on Thursday night at Eck Stadium.
The win, combined with UAB's loss to Florida Atlantic, means Wichita State can clinch a spot in the American Athletic Conference tournament with one win in the final two games of the series.
The Shockers (18-34, 9-16) banged out 13 hits and got the offensive barrage started early, plating a run in the bottom of the first on
Jaden Gustafson's bloop single. A solo home run from Seth Cox leveled the score at 1-1 in the second, but
Jordan Rogers answered with a long ball of his own in the third for a 2-1 advantage.
Memphis (22-31, 8-17) threatened to take control of the game in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs on bases-loaded walks against WSU starter
Grant Adler. Adler bounced back by inducing a 5-3 double play grounder to escape the situation with the deficit at just 3-2.
The Wichita State offense helped out Adler with two runs of their own in the home half of the inning, courtesy of RBI singles from
Kaleb Duncan and
Camden Johnson for a 4-3 lead. A
Zeb Henry RBI groundout and another Duncan run-scoring single extended that margin to 6-3 in the fifth.
A long home run from Jack Pitts pulled the Tigers to within 6-5 in the top of the sixth, but that's as close as Memphis would come thanks to two scoreless innings from reliever
Nick Potter and a 1-2-3 ninth from
Aaron Arnold. The duo combined for six strikeouts and allowed just two total baserunners.
Gustafson made things comfortable down the stretch for the Shockers with a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh for the final margin.
Duncan set a new season high with three hits to lead the Shockers, while
Cole Dillon singled once to extend his hitting streak to 13 games and drew four walks. Henry, Gustafson and
Mauricio Millan all added two hits.
Adler (5-5) picked up the win, tossing six innings and allowing five runs on just four hits. Memphis starter Seth Garner (3-8) was tagged with the loss, allowing four runs in 3.1 innings.
The Shockers and Tigers continue the series on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 pm CT.
