CHAMP CENTRAL
BOX SCORE
PLAY BY PLAY
HIGHLIGHTS
PHOTO GALLERY
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Charlie Yorgen’s two-out base hit to right-center in the bottom of the ninth scored Hunter Allen from second and lifted East Carolina to a 4-3 win against UCF to start the second day of competition at the 2015 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at Bright House Field.
East Carolina, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, advances in the winners’ bracket to face either UConn or Tulane Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. No. 7-seeded UCF will face the UConn/Tulane loser Thursday at 11 a.m. ET in an elimination game.
Yorgen broke a 3-3 deadlock to end the game after it looked like UCF might escape a jam to force extra innings. The Pirates’ Eric Tyler was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth and pinch runner Parker Lamm took second on a sacrifice bunt. Allen smacked a long fly off the wall in rightfield, but Lamm got a late start on the fly ball and was gunned down at the plate on a relay from rightfielder Erik Barber and first baseman James Vasquez for the second out. Yorgen followed with a hard grounder through the infield to right-center, however, to give the Pirates their 37th win of the season.
The game began as a pitchers’ duel between a pair of all-conference first-team selections as East Carolina’s Reid Love and UCF’s Zach Rodgers were locked in a 1-1 battle through six innings.
UCF had gained a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on an RBI double by Vasquez, but the Pirates answered in the bottom of the inning when Travis Watkins’ third home run of the season knotted the game at 1-1.
Dylan Moore put the Knights ahead with a two-out base hit through the left side in the top of the seventh inning that scored runners from second and third, giving UCF a 3-1 lead. But the Pirates got one back in the bottom of the seventh after Bryce Harman led off with a double, took third on a grounder to first and came home on Garrett Brooks’ sacrifice fly to left.
Luke Lowery hit a one-out triple to the corner in rightfield in the top of the eighth and came in to tie the score on Watkins’ sac fly to right, making it 3-3.
Allen went 3-for-5 to lead the Pirates (37-20), who saw their first seven hitters account for all of their 11 hits. Reliever Joe Ingle picked up the win after he worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his first decision of the season.
Rodgers took his first loss of the season as he fell to 10-1 after allowing four runs and 11 hits in 8.2 innings. Kyle Marsh went 3-for-4 for UCF (31-26), while Moore was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
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
Game 1 – No. 4 USF 10, No. 5 Memphis 6
Game 2 – No. 1 Houston 8, No. 8 Cincinnati 4
Wednesday, May 20 (American Digital Network)
Game 3 – No. 2 East Carolina 4, No. 7 UCF 3
Game 4 – No. 6 UConn (33-23) vs. No. 3 Tulane (33-21) 3 p.m.
Game 5 – Memphis (35-20) vs. Cincinnati (15-40) 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 21 (American Digital Network)
Game 6 – UCF (31-26) vs. Loser of Game 4 11 a.m.
Game 7 – USF (33-22-1) vs. Houston (40-17) 3 p.m.
Game 8 – East Carolina (37-20) 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