Shockers score three in eighth to take rubber game of series over Green Wave

NEW ORLEANS – The visiting Wichita State baseball team scored three times in the top of the eighth inning and went on to win 7-4 over Tulane Sunday afternoon on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

The victory lifted the Shockers to 20-15 overall and 5-4 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Green Wave dropped to 10-26 and 4-5 in the league.

Robert Cranz (1-1) worked the last two and one-third innings on the mound for WSU in the winning effort. He held Tulane scoreless, allowing just one hit and striking out five.

Grant Cleavinger (0-1), another reliever, suffered the loss for Tulane as he gave up one run on three hits with one strikeout.

The top of the Shockers’ order (right fielder Chuck Ingram, second baseman Brock Rodden and first baseman Garrett Pennington) collected 10 of the team’s 15 hits and drove in four of the seven runs.

Center fielder Teo Banks and third baseman Simon Baumgardt posted two hits for the home team, as did right fielder Jake LaPrairie. First baseman Brady Marget scored twice.

With the wind blowing out of Turchin Stadium in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, the result was a combined eight home runs given up by both teams. The wind blew in Sunday and zero were hit during the course of that action.

The Shockers built a 4-0 lead with single runs in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings before Tulane came back with two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit in half. Marget scored on catcher Brennan Lambert’s bases-loaded walk and Baumgardt came home on LaPrairie’s RBI groundout.

The Olive and Blue tied the contest in the seventh with two more tallies, the first by designated hitter Brady Hebert on a WSU throwing error and Baumgardt added a run-scoring double to left center.

Cleavinger started the eighth on the mound for Tulane and gave up the leadoff double to Jordan Rogers, yielding to Michael Lombardi. Lombardi then surrendered a run-scoring double and single before he was pulled in favor of Michael Fowler.

The Green Wave is back in action Tuesday at UNO at 6:30 p.m.

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