WICHITA, KS- The University of Memphis baseball team won its series finale over No. 25 Wichita State, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium.
 
With the win, Memphis moves to .500 on the season (22-22, 5-10 AAC). The Shockers slipped to 26-17 (10-5) on the year with the loss.
 
“Great job by our guys today,” head coach Kerrick Jackson said. “We got good pitching performances and played good defense for the most part. If we can keep trending in the right direction, I think we’ll put ourselves in a great position.”
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Shockers struck first when Payton Tolle connected for a two-run home run to put WSU up 2-0 in the first inning.
• Memphis responded with two runs of its own in the very next half inning. The Tigers strung together four hits and scored on singles by Shane Cox and Brayland Skinner.
• In the fifth, Jake Curtis doubled to right-center field, driving in Skinner. A sac-fly by Austin Baskin brought home Brennan DuBose to give Memphis a 4-2 lead.
• The Tigers scored two more in the seventh. DuBose grounded out to shortstop but drove in Shane Cox and then Austin Baskin tallied his second sac-fly of the game when he drove in Skinner.
• The Shockers got a run back in the seventh on a Brock Rodden double to cut Memphis’ lead to 6-3.
• In the eighth, WSU got the tying run to the plate. Memphis closer Dalton Kendrick induced a ground out to himself to get the Tigers out of the inning.
• Kendrick remained in the game for the ninth inning and closed the door on the Shockers to pick up his 11th save of the season.
 
NOTABLES
• The win marked the first for the Tigers over a ranked opponent since beating No. 9 East Carolina in the first round of the 2021 American Athletic Conference tournament, and first regular season ranked win since taking down No. 19 UConn on May 6, 2018.
• Skinner finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored. He also had two highlight-reel diving catches in center field.
• Curtis had two hits from the lead-off spot, including an RBI double.
• Will Spears went 1-for-3 with an RBI double.
• Cameron Benson, Cox, and DuBose all collected a hit in the game. Cox and DuBose each tallied an RBI.
• Luke Ellis made his second start of the season on the mound and pitched effectively for 3.1 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs, striking out three.
• David Warren relieved Ellis and pitched 3.2 innings. He struck out four while allowing four hits and one run to earn the win and move to 3-4 on the season.
• Kendrick picked up a two-inning save for his 11th of the season – tied for third-most in a season in Memphis history.
 
UP NEXT
• The Tigers go to Jonesboro, Ark., for a mid-week game with Arkansas State (15-24) on Tuesday. The two teams played back on March 22 in Memphis where the Tigers won 7-6.