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CLEARWATER, Fla. – Rightfielder Luke Maglich went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs to lead USF to a 10-6 win against Memphis Tuesday in the opening game of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at Bright House Field.
The Bulls advance in the winners’ bracket and will face either Houston or Cincinnati Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. Memphis will face the Houston/Cincinnati loser Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET in an elimination game.
USF scored its first seven runs with two outs as the Bulls touched Memphis pitching for 12 hits, including five extra-base hits.
Maglich drilled a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the second to give the Bulls a 5-2 lead, while his RBI single to rightfield in the bottom of the sixth gave USF a 10-6 advantage after the Tigers had closed to within one in the top of the frame.
The Bulls struck first thanks to a pair of doubles in the bottom of the first inning. Kevin Merrell dropped a two-base hit on the rightfield chalk and came home on Levi Borders’ base hit to left-center. Buddy Putnam followed with a double off the top of the wall in rightfield to bring Borders home and give USF a 2-0 lead.
Memphis answered by scratching a pair of runs across in the top of the second as the first three batters had hits, including an RBI single by Jake Little to put the Tigers on the board. Kane Barrow, who had reached on a double, came in to score on a grounder to short to make it 2-2.
Maglich’s home run gave USF the lead for good in the bottom of the second, but Memphis continued to chip away at the lead. Tucker Tubbs hit an RBI single in the third to make it 5-3 and Zach Schritenthal scored on a throwing error to bring the Tigers within one at 5-4.
The Bulls added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth on Luke Borders’ base hit to right to build a 7-4 lead, but the Tigers again made it a one-run game on a two-run triple to right-center to make it 7-6 in the top of the sixth.
USF added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth as Kyle Teaf had an RBI triple to bring in Zac Gilcrease before Teaf scored on a passed ball and Maglich drove home Merrell.
The top third of USF’s lineup accounted for eight of the Bulls’ 10 hits as Teaf went 2-for-5 and Merrell was 3-for-4 in addition to Maglich’s performance.
USF pitcher Jimmy Herget struck out eight batters in six innings to get the win and improve to 9-3 on the year. Two USF relievers combined to work three innings of one-hit shutout ball.
Memphis’ Alex Gunn took the loss, falling to 6-2. Darien Tubbs was 2-for-5 with two RBIs for the Tigers, who finished with 10 hits.
The latest information on the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship is available on the conference’s Championship Central page at
www.TheAmerican.org/Baseball.
2015 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
bright house field • clearwater, fla.
Tuesday, May 19 (CBS Sports Network)
Game 1 – No. 4 USF 10, No. 5 Memphis 6
Game 2 – No. 8 Cincinnati (15-39) vs. No. 1 Houston (39-17) 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20 (American Digital Network)
Game 3 – No. 7 UCF (31-25) vs. No. 2 East Carolina (36-20) 11 a.m.
Game 4 – No. 6 UConn (33-23) vs. No. 3 Tulane (33-21) 3 p.m.
Game 5 – Memphis (35-20) vs. Loser of Game 2 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 21 (American Digital Network)
Game 6 – Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 11 a.m.
Game 7 – USF (33-22-1) vs. Winner of Game 2 3 p.m.
Game 8 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4 7 p.m.
Friday, May 22 (American Digital Network)
Game 9 – Loser of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 5 11 a.m.
Game 10 – Loser of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 6 3 p.m.
Saturday, May 23 (American Digital Network)
Game 11 – Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9 10 a.m.
Game 12 – Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10 1 p.m.
Game 13 – Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11 4:30 p.m. (if necessary)
Game14 – Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12 7:30 p.m. (if necessary)
Sunday, May 24 (ESPNU)
Game 15 – Semifinal winners Noon
all times Eastern