The Wichita State Shockers and the Tulane Green Wave have played their way into commanding position to reach the title game in the American Baseball Championship.
In the tournament being staged at Clearwater, Fla., both lead their double-elimination brackets with 2-0 records and are already slotted into the semifinals, which will be held on Saturday.
Matchups in the semifinals will be determined Friday by the outcome in two elimination games.
In one bracket, the Rice Owls play the East Carolina Pirates at noon Central time. In the other, which will start 47 minutes after the conclusion of the first game, the Charlotte 49ers will play the Florida Atlantic Owls.
The losers will be eliminated and the winners will move on to play Saturday. The Rice-East Carolina winner will play Wichita State. The Charlotte-FAU winner will take on Tulane.
A possibility exists that four games could be played in the bracket semifinals. Teams coming out of the losers’ bracket will be eliminated with one loss. But both Wichita State and Tulane would need to be beaten twice.
The championship game has been set for Sunday at 11 a.m. Central.
Thursday’s results
Wichita State beat East Carolina, 14-4
Tulane beat Charlotte, 7-5
Notable
The conference announced Friday morning that it has suspended East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin for two games and East Carolina player Dixon Williams for one following a play against Wichita State Thursday.
Godwin was ejected from Thursday’s game and assessed an additional two-game suspension for violating NCAA Rule 2-26-h, which states that “no team personnel may continue to argue or to continue to excessively express themselves with prolonged action or offensive language after an ejection,” according to a news release.
Williams was ejected from Thursday’s game and hit with a one-game suspension for violating NCAA Rule 8-7, which prohibits “unnecessary and violent collisions with the catcher at home plate, and with infielders at all bases.”
Friday’s schedule
Rice vs. East Carolina, noon
Charlotte vs. Florida Atlantic, 47 minutes afterward
Eliminated
Both the UAB Blazers and UTSA Roadrunners have lost twice and have been eliminated.