Champ Central
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Colton Neel pitched three perfect innings of relief and drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning as Memphis rallied for a wild 15-14 win against Cincinnati Wednesday morning in an elimination game of the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at Spectrum Field.
The Tigers (30-28) stayed alive in the tournament and will face either Houston or UConn in an elimination game Friday at 11 a.m. ET. Cincinnati was eliminated from the tournament with its second loss.
Neel completed Memphis’ comeback from a 14-8 deficit with a two-out base hit up the middle in the bottom of the 10th after Carlos Williams drew a one-out walk and took second on a wild pitch. The Bearcats got the next hitter on a grounder to third, but Neel drilled a 1-1 pitch through the infield to bring Williams home, capping a 3-for-6 day at the plate.
On the mound, Neel silenced a Cincinnati lineup that had scored 14 runs with 14 hits in the first seven innings. He came in from leftfield to start the eighth inning and retired all nine batters he faced, with two strikeouts.
The game was played in a steady 25-mile-per-hour wind blowing out, which helped to produce the highest-scoring contest in the four-year history of the American Athletic Conference Championship. The teams combined for 29 runs and 32 hits, including nine doubles and three home runs.
Memphis built an early 6-1 lead and held an 8-3 lead after four innings, but Cincinnati was able to score the next 11 runs and take a 14-6 lead through six-and-a-half innings.
Memphis’ comeback started in the bottom of the seventh, when Zach Schritenthal smacked a two-run double down the leftfield line and Tyler Webb delivered an RBI single to close the gap to 14-9.
The Bearcats took a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, but Brandon Grudzielanek delivered a one-out, bases-loaded single through the infield to bring in two runs, and Chris Carrier followed with an RBI single of his own to tie it.
Carrier finished 4-for-6 with four RBIs, including his 16th home run of the season and his second of The American Championship. Schritenthal and Trent Turner both finished with three hits and three RBIs.
Cincinnati was led by second baseman Jace Mercer, whose six RBIs tied the tournament record set by Houston’s Connor Wong against Memphis May 23, 2015. Mercer went 3-for-5 on the day, as did R.J. Thompson, who scored three runs. Reese Robinson (1-2) took the loss for the Bearcats.
Wednesday’s scheduled second game, between Tulane and UCF, was rescheduled to Thursday at 11 a.m. ET due to the threat of inclement weather in the Tampa Bay area.
Tickets for the championship will be available at Spectrum Field each day of the tournament or may be purchased in advance by calling the box office at 727-467-4457. The latest information on the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship is available on the conference’s Championship Central page at
www.TheAmerican.org/Baseball.