CHAMP CENTRAL
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HIGHLIGHTS
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CLEARWATER, Fla. – UConn starter Anthony Kay picked up his second win of the tournament, while shortstop Bryan Daniello went 3-for-4 to lead the Huskies to their first American Athletic Conference Championship title with a 7-2 victory against Houston Sunday at Bright House Field.
UConn (37-23) earned The American’s automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Championship. The pairings for the 2016 tournament will be announced Monday at noon ET.
The conference title was UConn’s first as a member of The American and was the Huskies first since they won the 2013 Big East crown. It is UConn’s fourth conference championship in program history (1990, 1994, 2013, 2016).
Kay (9-2) was named as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after he worked six innings and struck out five, allowing six hits and two runs in a start that was interrupted by a one-hour, three-minute lightning delay. Kay was the winning pitcher in the Huskies’ tournament-opening win against Memphis Wednesday.
Daniello finished the championship with a tournament-record 13 hits and hit .619 in the Huskies’ five games (13-for-21) to join Kay on the All-Tournament Team.
Bobby Melley hit a two-run home run in the top of the third inning to stake UConn to a 2-0 lead before the weather delay sent the teams to their clubhouses in the middle of the inning. The Huskies gained a 3-0 cushion on Tyler Gnesda’s base hit to left once the teams resumed play.
Houston (36-24) picked up its first run in the bottom of the sixth on Joe Davis’ third home run of the tournament, a solo shot to left-center that made it 3-1.
The teams traded runs in the seventh as UConn’s Jack Sundberg scored from third on Willy Yahn’s grounder and Houston’s Jacob Campbell came in on the back end of an attempted double play to make it 4-2.
UConn added three insurance runs in the ninth, including an RBI triple by Yahn.
Melley went 3-for-5 with three RBIs for UConn, while Sundberg Gnesda and John Toppa had two hits each. Patrick Ruotolo worked the last three innings for UConn to get his 11th save of the year. UConn’s All-Tournament selections included Kay, Daniello, Melley, Toppa and second-baseman Aaron Hill.
Houston was led by Campbell and Connor Hollis, who had two hits each. The Cougars placed four players on the All-Tournament Team – Davis, outfielders Zac Taylor and Connor Wong, and pitcher Nick Hernandez.
Tulane catcher Jake Rogers and Memphis second-baseman Brandon Grudzielanek were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
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 – UConn 7, Houston 2
All-Tournament Team
P Anthony Kay, UConn
P Nick Hernandez, Houston
C Jake Rogers, Tulane
IF Bryan Daniello, UConn
IF Aaron Hill, UConn
IF Bobby Melley, UConn
IF Brandon Grudzielanek, Memphis
OF John Toppa, UConn
OF Zac Taylor, Houston
OF Connor Wong, Houston
UTY Joe Davis, Houston
Most Outstanding Player
Anthony Kay, P, UConn