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Wichita State baseball extends winning streak to six, wins first AAC series at Cincinnati

The Wichita State baseball team won its sixth straight game and clinched its first series victory over Cincinnati in a 10-6 road victory over the Bearcats on Saturday afternoon.

Cincinnati had dominated the series before this season, winning 11 of 13 games, but the Shockers have taken the first two games of the opening American Athletic Conference series of the season after Friday’s 2-1 win. WSU will go for the sweep in Sunday’s 11 a.m. finale at UC Baseball Stadium.

WSU has successfully carried over its momentum established at home with a three-game sweep of Massachusetts last weekend and a come-from-behind win over Oklahoma on Tuesday. WSU improved to 16-10 this season with Saturday’s win, while Cincinnati dropped to 11-17.

Brock Rodden gave WSU the early lead on Saturday with a double to the gap in right-center field that plated two runs, then Payton Tolle scored Rodden on a ground-out and David Herring drove in another run with a double down the left-field line. Rodden delivered another RBI double in the fourth inning, then an RBI single in the sixth inning followed by an RBI single from Mauricio Millan to give WSU an 8-0 lead. Rodden finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs.

Tolle lasted five innings on the mound, allowing two earned runs and striking out seven hitters. Cincinnati briefly rallied in the eighth inning with four runs to trim WSU’s lead to 8-6, but Jordan Rogers gave the Shockers a cushion with an RBI triple down the left-field line and then scored himself on a passed ball.

Cameron Bye closed the door in the ninth inning, striking out three batters mixed in with two walks.

In Friday’s 2-1 win, Tolle put WSU ahead with a single to center field in the first inning and Kyte McDonald scored what would become the winning run on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning. Cincinnati’s lone run came on a solo home run by Cole Harting in the fifth inning.

Clark Candiotti improved to 3-2 on the mound this season, striking out seven hitters in six innings and allowing just one earned run. Caden Favors recorded his first save of the season with a perfect three innings, allowing no hits, no runs, no walks and striking out five.