The last time Wichita State baseball faced an American Athletic Conference opponent, Tulane University hit a walk-off home run to end the Shockers’ Conference Championship run one game short.
Wichita State began this year’s AAC schedule by facing Tulane again, dropping its first series of conference play this year, two games to one.
A week after rounding out its non-conference schedule with a series loss last weekend in which the Shockers gave up the third-most runs in a single game in program history, Wichita State’s pitching struggled once again, giving up 23 total runs against Tulane.
Wichita State won the series opener against the Green Wave but dropped the final two games. The Shockers are now 8-15 overall. Tulane improved to 17-7 this season after the series win.
Friday
The Shockers started AAC competition with a 10-4 win in the series opener.
Senior Grant Adler won his second game on the mound this season after pitching seven innings, giving up three runs on three hits and striking out seven Green Wave batters. Adler struck out a batter in every inning but the third.
Adler rebounded from his previous appearance against Louisiana Tech University in which he gave up 12 runs, the second-most in a single game in program history.
Sophomore Camden Johnson hit 3-4 at the plate with an RBI, a double and a run scored. Senior Josh Livingston hit 2-4, with both hits being home runs.
Wichita State mounted a 4-0 lead in the first inning after seniors Mauricio Millan and Jordan Rogers ripped RBI doubles into left field. The first three Wichita State batters reached second base via hits to the outfield.
After the back-to-back-to-back doubles, Livingston rifled a two-RBI home run in the game’s fourth at bat.
The teams traded two runs in the second inning as Livingston hit his second homer of the game and the Shockers held on to a four-run lead. In the fourth, Millan popped out to left field but another run scored in the process, 7-2.
In the sixth, Adler gave up a homer in Tulane’s first at-bat of the inning, but he strapped in and put down the next three batters.
Wichita State added three insurance runs in the seventh and the Green Wave scored the game’s final run in the eighth as the Shockers took the win.
Saturday
Tulane put up an eight-spot in the fourth inning of game two, sending the Shockers packing with an 8-6 loss.
Sophomore Brady Hamilton and senior Jace Miner were the culprits for the Green Wave’s eight-run inning. Hamilton hit a Tulane player that forced a mound visit, and on the next at bat, he hit another batter, which plated the inning’s first run.
Miner came in for relief after the run scored. The Green Wave scored on a single and a walk before Miner gave up a grand slam.
Wichita State had a three-run lead going into the fourth inning, highlighted by a junior Jaden Gustafson two-RBI triple in the third.
Livingston smacked his third homer of the series in the fifth and the Shockers tacked on two more in the sixth, but the team couldn’t mount a comeback. Seven of Wichita State’s final nine batters struck out.
Sunday
Wichita State trailed wire-to-wire and dropped the series’ rubber match, 11-5.
After falling behind 3-0 in the third inning, Livingston hit an RBI single to cut the deficit to two runs. Then, Tulane put up a four-spot in its go-around at the plate to open up a 7-1 lead. In the fourth, sophomore Gannon Snyder crossed the plate on a fielder’s choice to cut into the deficit, 7-2.
The Shockers were held runless for the next two innings as the Green Wave tacked on another in the sixth, 8-2.
In the seventh and eighth, Wichita State plated three more runs, but in Tulane’s turn in the eighth, it put up three runs on two homers to seal the series victory.
During the game, the Shockers used eight pitchers. Junior Aaron Arnold got tagged with his first loss of the season after giving up seven hits and two home runs in two innings pitched.
Snyder hit 2-3 at the plate with an RBI and was Wichita State’s only batter with multiple base hits.
Wichita State will stay on the road for a midweek matchup against Oklahoma State University on Tuesday, March 25. The first pitch against the Cowboys is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
