CHAMP CENTRAL
BOX SCORE
HIGHLIGHTS
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CLEARWATER, Fla. – Joe Davis and Zac Taylor hit home runs and Nick Hernandez earned his third save of the tournament to lead fifth-seeded Houston to the final of the American Athletic Conference Championship with a 6-2 semifinal win against top-seeded Tulane Saturday morning at Bright House Field.
The win sends Houston (36-22) to the conference championship game for the third consecutive year as the Cougars look for their second tournament title in three seasons. Houston won the inaugural American title against Louisville in 2014 and fell to East Carolina in the 2015 final.
The top three hitters in Houston’s lineup accounted for nine of the Cougars’ 12 hits and drove in five of the six runs Saturday as Taylor and Connor Wong both went 4-for-5. Davis and Wong had two RBIs each.
Taylor’s home run tied the game in the third inning for Houston after Tulane had taken a 1-0 lead in the first. Davis’ blast – his second of the tournament and his 13th of the season – was a two-run shot in the fifth inning that gave the Cougars a 4-1 lead.
Hunter Hope chipped away for Tulane when he led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run to left-center to make it 4-2. The Green Wave got the tying run to the plate when Jake Rogers stroked a double to the left-center gap, but Hernandez came in to retire the side with a key strikeout to end the inning before getting the Green Wave in order in the eighth and ninth for a seven-out save.
Mitch Ullom worked six innings and struck out three while allowing eight hits and two runs to get the win, improving to 7-4 on the year. Hernandez struck out four for his 11th save.
Tulane (39-19) also received good production from the top of its order as Rogers and Stephen Alemais both finished with two hits and a double. J.P. France took the loss, falling to 6-3.
The latest information on the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship is available on the conference’s Championship Central page at
www.TheAmerican.org/Baseball.
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 4, No. 2 East Carolina 2
Game 4 – No. 3 UConn 6, No. 6 Memphis 2
Game 5 – UCF 7, Cincinnati 6 (10 innings) ........................................ (Cincinnati eliminated)
Thursday, May 26 (American Digital Network)
Game 6 – Memphis 5, East Carolina 4......................................... (East Carolina eliminated)
Game 7 – Houston 5, Tulane 3
Game 8 – UConn 9, USF 1
Friday, May 27 (American Digital Network)
Game 9 – Tulane 5, UCF 0............................................................................... (UCF eliminated)
Game 10 – Memphis 7, USF 5........................................................................ (USF eliminated)
Saturday, May 28 (American Digital Network)
Game 11 – Houston 6, Tulane 2................................................................. (Tulane eliminated)
Game 12 – UConn (35-22) vs. Memphis (21-38)....................................................... 1:45 p.m.
Game 14 – Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12 (if necessary)...................... * TBD
* Game 14, if necessary, would start shortly after the completion of Game 12
Sunday, May 29 (ESPNews)
Game 15 – Houston (36-22) vs UConn/Memphis............................................................ Noon
all times Eastern