CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
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CLEARWATER, Fla. – Designated hitter Joe DeRoche-Duffin’s two-run home run to leftfield in the bottom of the eighth inning sent UConn to the semifinal round of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship as the Huskies rallied for a 7-6 win against Tulane Friday at Bright House Field.
UConn trailed 6-2 through seven innings, but the Huskies scored five times in the eighth, capped by DeRoche-Duffin’s second home run in as many games for the Huskies.
The win sends No. 6-seeded UConn (35-24) to the semifinal round of the tournament, where the Huskies will face East Carolina, the No. 2 seed, Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. UConn would need to defeat the Pirates twice Saturday in order to reach Sunday’s final.
Tulane had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI double by Hunter Hope, and the Green Wave added three more in the top of the seventh. Jake Rogers led off with a double to left-center and came around to score on Richard Carthon’s base hit right. Stephen Alemais followed with a double of his own to bring in Carthon before scoring himself on a passed ball to give the Green Wave a 6-2 lead.
UConn’s comeback started in the bottom of the eighth as Jon Testani and Eric Yavarone led with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Vinny Siena laced a hard line drive that got past the centerfielder for a triple, and Bobby Melley dropped a double on the leftfield line to score Siena and set the stage for DeRoche-Duffin’s blast into the bullpen.
Anthony Kay, the all-conference first team pitcher, who had not made a relief appearance in the regular season, came on for the save after he earned the win in relief Friday. It was Kay’s first save since he nailed down a win against Houston in the American Athletic Conference Championship one year ago to the day.
Trevor Holmes (1-0) was credited with the win in relief for the Huskies.
Hope went 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Tulane. Emerson Gibbs took the loss for the Green Wave (34-23), falling to 5-3.
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
Game 3 – No. 2 East Carolina 4, No. 7 UCF 3
Game 4 – No. 3 Tulane 3, No. 6 UConn 1
Game 5 – Memphis 14, Cincinnati 9 (Cincinnati eliminated)
Thursday, May 21
Game 6 – UConn 4, UCF 3 (11 innings) (UCF eliminated)
Game 7 – Houston 7, USF 3
Game 8 – East Carolina 3, Tulane 1
Friday, May 22
Game 9 – Memphis 4, USF 1 (USF eliminated)
Game 10 – UConn 7, Tulane 6 (Tulane eliminated)
Saturday, May 23 (American Digital Network)
Game 11 – Houston (41-17) vs. Memphis (37-20)
Game 12 – East Carolina (38-20) vs. UConn (35-24)
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