Tigers Shock Third-Seeded Wichita State in First Round of AAC Tournament

Tuesday, May 23

Clearwater, Fla.

9:31 P.M.

University of Memphis

29-26

(3) Wichita State

30-24

Memphis

Wichita State

Tigers first-round win, 2023 AAC Tournament

Photo by: American Athletic Conference

Tigers Shock Third-Seeded Wichita State in First Round of AAC Tournament

May 24, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The sixth-seeded University of Memphis baseball team defeated No. 3 seed Wichita State, 10-6, in the first round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at BayCare Ballpark late Tuesday night and into the early-morning hours of Wednesday.

The Tigers (29-26) advance to the winner's bracket with the win and will play No. 7 seed Tulane on Thursday, May 25 at approximately 3:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+. Additionally, the win guaranteed Memphis a record above .500 for the season.

"Great job by our guys tonight," head coach Kerrick Jackson said. "Good pitching performances all around. We came up with some big hits at times and played pretty good defense… Any time you can win a game and get a day off, it allows your pitching to get rested and puts us in a great position to accomplish our ultimate goal – dog piling on Sunday."

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Shockers struck first, scoring a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Payton Tolle.
• Memphis responded with a three-run inning in the top of the second. Anthony Hansen tied the game with an opposite-field solo home run – his 12^th of the season. An RBI triple by catcher Brennan DuBose drove in Shane Cox and gave Memphis the lead. The Tigers got their third run of the frame when the Shockers botched an Austin Baskin infield pop-up with two outs in the inning.
• In the third, the Tigers got two more runs on a ball driven by DuBose to deep left-center field that hit off the center fielder's glove and allowed Hansen and RJ Jimerson to score and give Memphis a 5-1 lead.
• The Shockers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third. Logan Kohler got that run right back for the Tigers with a moon shot to deep right field for his 11^th home run of the year in the top of the fourth to give Memphis a 6-2 lead.
• A two-run double by AAC Player of the Year Brock Rodden in the bottom of the fourth cut the Memphis lead to 6-4.
• In the seventh, the Tigers scored a pair of two-out runs to grow their lead to 8-4. Hansen scored on the third error of the game by the Shockers and Jimerson crossed home after making a great read at third base on a wild pitch.
• Brock Rodden struck again in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run.
• Back-to-back doubles by Jake Curtis and Austin Baskin and an RBI single by Kohler gave the Tigers two more runs in the eighth.
• Wichita State scratched back for a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth to cut Memphis' lead to 10-6, and that score held final.

NOTABLES
• The win marked the third-straight opening-round win for the Tigers in the AAC Tournament.
• Luke Ellis made his fifth start of the season and went four innings, allowing three earned runs while striking out five. David Warren threw four excellent innings of relief and allowed just one earned run on four hits while punching out five Shockers to earn the win and improve to 5-5 on the year.
• Kohler ended the night 2-for-5 with his 11^th home run of the season, two RBI and a run scored.
• Hansen hit his team-leading 12^th bomb of the season when he went opposite-field to tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning. He also scored three runs in the game.
• Curtis, Baskin and Jimerson each recorded a double in the game. Baskin knocked in a run on his two-bagger.
• DuBose tripled in a run and drove another ball deep into the left-center field gap that plated two more Tigers but was scored as an E8.
• First baseman Shane Cox made a series of great defensive plays that were crucial in the Memphis win. He also recorded a hit and scored a run.

UP NEXT
• The Tigers get an off day on Wednesday before their second-round AAC Tournament matchup with Tulane on Thursday afternoon.

How to follow the Tigers: For complete information on Memphis Tiger Baseball, visit www.GoTigersGo.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.