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CLEARWATER, Fla. – UConn starter William Montgomerie worked seven shutout innings, allowing three hits, to lead the Huskies past Memphis 2-0 in the semifinal round of the American Athletic Conference Championship Saturday at Bright House Field.
The win sends UConn (36-23) to Sunday’s championship game, where the Huskies will face Houston in a winner-take-all matchup for the conference title. The game will begin at noon ET and will be televised on ESPNews.
UConn bounced back from a 9-5 loss to Memphis earlier Saturday as Montgomerie settled a Huskies pitching staff that had allowed nine runs and 12 hits, including eight extra-base hits, to the Tigers in the first game. Montgomerie allowed only three singles and two walks to improve to 6-3 on the year.
Tyler Gnesda drove in two runs for UConn, as he put the Huskies on the board in the second inning with an RBI single and drove home the second run on a grounder to short in the bottom of the fourth.
UConn broke it open in the bottom of the eighth as Aaron Hill led off the inning with his first home run of the season, sending a 1-0 pitch into the bullpen in leftfield. The Huskies made it 4-0 when the Tigers couldn’t handle Bryan Daniello’s chopper to first with the bases loaded, and the lead went to 5-0 on Zac Susi’s bases-loaded grounder to second.
Patrick Ruotolo came on for the final two innings to get his 10th save of the season. Jonathan Bowlan (2-6) took the loss for Memphis despite a solid outing in which he struck out four and allowed six hits and two earned runs in seven innings.
UConn finished with eight hits – one each by eight players in the lineup.
The Huskies will look for their first conference tournament title since 2013, when UConn won the Big East championship. They will face a Houston squad that won the inaugural American Athletic Conference title in 2014 and has reached the championship game for the third straight year. UConn went 3-0 against the Cougars in the regular season when the teams met April 15-17 in Storrs, Connecticut.
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 – Memphis 9, UConn 5
Game 14 – UConn 5, Memphis 0.......................................................... (Memphis eliminated)
Sunday, May 29 (ESPNews)
Game 15 – Houston (36-22) vs UConn (36-23)................................................................ Noon
all times Eastern