CLEARWATER, Fla. – A combined 36 hits over nine innings adorned the scoreboard in the first elimination game of Saturday at the 2026 American Baseball Championship at BayCare Ballpark, and when the dust settled No. 7 Wichita State bested No. 4 UAB 14-12 in an offensive eruption.
 
The Shockers (31-28) advanced to a second Saturday night elimination game against No. 2 seed and defending champion East Carolina. The winner of that elimination game will match up with No. 1 UTSA on Sunday at Noon ET on ESPNEWS with the American tournament championship on the line.
 
Both teams exploded for five combined runs in the second inning. Wichita State plated its second run on an RBI single to left field from Ethan Gonzalez to score Jacob Gutierrez for the 2-1 Shockers lead. UAB (32-26) immediately answered with three runs in the bottom half, with an Andrew Hunt two-run home run and a Baylor Roberts RBI triple pushing the Blazers ahead 4-2.
 
An RBI single in the bottom of the third off the bat of Wesley Helms made it 5-2 UAB, but Wichita State tied the score in the top of the fourth frame with three runs of its own. RBI hits from Jayson Jones and Owen Washburn and an RBI groundout from Nolan Ganter capped the Shockers rally. UAB found four runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth, with Landon Beaver driving in one on an RBI single and Alex Dupuy clearing the bases with a three-run homer to left field to put the Blazers ahead 9-5.
 
Wichita State blitzed the scoreboard for six runs in the top of the seventh. A solo home run from Gonzalez, RBI base hits from Jones and Kaleb Duncan and an RBI double from Gonzalez shot the Shockers back ahead 12-10. The lead was short lived as UAB answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, as JP Head hit his second solo home run of the contest and Brady Waugh ripped a one-out RBI base hit.

Wichita State took the lead for good in the top of the eighth inning, following a Washburn RBI single and a Ganter sacrifice fly to center settled the final score at 14-12.