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CLEARWATER, Fla. – Jeremy Montalbano’s ground-rule double to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning capped top-seeded Tulane’s comeback from a three-run deficit and helped the Green Wave to a 4-3 win against eighth-seeded UCF Tuesday in the first round of the 2016 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at Bright House Field.
Tulane advances to face Houston in a winners’ bracket game Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. UCF will face Cincinnati in an elimination game Wednesday at 7 p.m.
UCF held a 3-0 lead through four-and-a-half innings, but on a day in which it was held to four hits, Tulane was able to chip away with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and single runs in the sixth and seventh to improve to 38-17 on the year.
Tulane took the lead in the bottom of the seventh as Grant Witherspoon was hit by a pitch and took second on an errant pickoff attempt. The miscue proved costly as Montalbano’s fly ball to right landed behind the padding of the outfield wall for a ground-rule double, scoring Witherspoon to give Tulane a 4-3 advantage.
UCF starter Robby Howell, The American’s leader in earned-run average entering the game (1.91) held the Green Wave to one hit through the first five innings. The Knights got on the board in the top of the fifth as Eli Putman’s grounder to short brought in Luke Hamblin, and UCF added two more an Sam Tolleson’s two-out base hit to right.
Tulane added two runs without a hit in the bottom of the fifth as the Green Wave took advantage of back-to-back walks to start the inning and a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners into scoring position. The Knights couldn’t handle Grant Witherspoon’s grounder to second, allowing Hunter Hope to score, and Richard Carthon came in on Hunter Williams’ sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
The Green Wave bats came alive to start the sixth as Lex Kaplan smacked a leadoff double to left-center before Jake Rogers brought him home with a base hit to left, tying the game at 3-3.
UCF threatened in the top of the seventh, putting a runner on with two out, but Tolleson’s hard shot down the third base line was snagged by Hope, who saved a run with a diving stop and threw to first to retire the side.
After Montalbano gave Tulane the lead, UCF put runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the eighth, but the Green Wave again came up with a big defensive play to get back to the dugout. Shortstop Stephen Alemais snared a chopper up the middle, spun and threw to first, where Hunter Williams put the tag on a diving Putnam for the third out.
Tulane reliever Corey Merrill – the Green Wave’s sixth pitcher of the game – picked up the win as he worked the last 2.1 innings with three strikeouts to close the door on the Knights. Merrill improved to 3-1 on the year, while Howell fell to 7-4.
Matt Diorio went 2-for-4 for UCF (25-32), which finished with an 8-4 advantage in hits, but was undone by three errors and 11 men left on base.
The latest information on the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship is available on the conference’s Championship Central page at
www.TheAmerican.org/Baseball. Live coverage of the championship continues Wednesday with three games, all on The American Digital Network.
2016 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Bright House Field · Clearwater, Fla.
Tuesday, May 24 (CBS Sports Network)
Game 1 – No. 5 Houston 9, vs. No. 4 Cincinnati 1
Game 2 – No. 1 Tulane 4, No. 8 UCF 3
Wednesday, May 25 (American Digital Network)
Game 3 – No. 7 USF (23-31) vs. No. 2 East Carolina (34-19-1)................................. 11 a.m.
Game 4 – No. 6 Memphis (19-37) vs. No. 3 UConn (33-22)......................................... 3 p.m.
Game 5 – Cincinnati (26-29-1) vs. UCF (25-32)............................................................... 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 26 (American Digital Network)
Game 6 – Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4......................................................... 11 a.m.
Game 7 – Tulane (38-17) vs. Houston (34-22)................................................................ 3 p.m.
Game 8 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4..................................................... 7 p.m.
Friday, May 27 (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 28 (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 (if necessary)................. 4:30 p.m.
Game 14 – Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12 (if necessary)................. 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 29 (ESPNews)
Game 15 – Semifinal winners.............................................................................................. Noon
all times Eastern