CLEARWATER, Fla. – David Villar and Joe Genord combined for six hits, five RBIs and five runs scored as No. 2-seeded USF defeated No. 6-seeded Cincinnati 9-4 in an elimination game on Wednesday evening in the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship presented by Visit St. Pete/Clearwater at Robin Roberts Field.
USF (33-19-1) will take on No. 7-seeded Wichita State (35-20-1) for the second day in a row on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. ET at Robin Roberts Field.
USF starter Peter Strzelecki threw 6.2 innings, keeping the Bearcats scoreless through five. He fanned seven batters to earn his ninth win, while Cincinnati’s J.T. Perez had six strikeouts through 5.2 innings.
Kyle Mottice led off the first inning for Cincinnati with his third home run of the year. USF battled back in the top of the second, taking a 2-1 lead on an error and a fielder’s choice play.
The Bulls then tacked on five more runs more runs through the sixth and seventh innings to move out to a 7-1 lead and refused to look back from there. Villar recorded two RBI doubles during this span. Kyle Phillips had an RBI single to left field, and Joe Genord pummeled a deep two-run home run over the left field fence.
Cincinnati got three back in the seventh and eighth innings to trim the deficit to three runs. With two outs in the seventh inning, Mottice recorded his third hit of the day and second RBI on an infield single, followed by an RBI single to right field by Joey Weimer. A.j. Bumpass hammered Cincinnati’s second solo lead-off home run of the game in the eighth inning.
USF added two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning to extend its lead to 9-4. Villar and Genord each recorded their third hits of the game during this frame. The Bulls scored their eighth run on an error, while Genord plated Villar with his third RBI.
The latest information on the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship is available on the conference’s Championship Central page at
www.TheAmerican.org/Baseball.
2018 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
presented by visit st. pete/clearwater
SPECTRUM field • clearwater, fla.
UPDATED TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 22
Game 1 – No. 4 ECU 8, No. 5 UCF 4
Game 2 – No. 8 Tulane 11, No. 1 Houston 6
Wednesday, May 23
at Spectrum Field
Game 3 – No. 7 Wichita State 4, No. 2 USF 3
Game 4 – No. 3 UConn 6, No. 6 Cincinnati 2
Game 8 –UConn 7, Wichita State 5
at Robin Roberts Field
Game 5 – Houston 6, UCF 2 (UCF eliminated)
Game 7 – ECU 6, Tulane 5
Game 6 – USF 9, Cincinnati 4 (Cincinnati eliminated)
Thursday, May 24
at Spectrum Field (American Digital Network)
Game 9 – Tulane (25-32) vs. Houston (34-22) 9 a.m.
Game 11 – ECU (41-15) vs. Winner of Game 9 12:30 p.m.
at Robin Roberts Field (American Digital Network)
Game 10 – Wichita State (35-20-1) vs. USF (33-19-1) 9 a.m.
Game 12 – UConn (34-18-1) vs. Winner of Game 10 12:30 p.m.
TBD (American Digital Network)
Game 13 – Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11 (if necessary) TBD
Game 14 – Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12 (if necessary) TBD
TBD (ESPNews)
Game 15 – Semifinal winners TBD
all times Eastern
dates and times subject to change