Championship Central
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Pat Winkel's base hit to rightfield in the top of the ninth inning broke a 7-7 tie and led UConn to a 9-7 win against Wichita State Thursday afternoon in the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship presented by Air Force Reserve at Spectrum Field.
The win sends UConn (35-22) to the semifinal round of the American Athletic Conference Championship for the fifth-consecutive year, or every year that the tournament has featured its current double-elimination format. The Huskies will face either ECU or Wichita State Saturday at 10 a.m. The Shockers (27-30) will face ECU Friday at 3 p.m. ET in an elimination game.
Winkel, who also hit a solo home run in the second inning, laced a 1-1 pitch to right after the Huskies had put the first two men on and executed a sacrifice bunt to move them into scoring position. Winkel's hit brought John Toppa home and moved Anthony Prato to third before Prato scored on Paul Gozzo's chopper to short to give UConn a 9-7 lead.
The Huskies trailed 4-1 after the second inning, but reeled off six runs through the next three innings to reclaim the lead. Toppa delivered a bases-loaded single down the rightfield line in the top of the fourth that cleared the bases to put UConn ahead 5-4.
Chris Winkel's base hit to center in the top of the fifth added two more runs for the Huskies, giving them a 7-4 lead. But Wichita State chipped away with single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to tie it.
The Shockers leveled it at 7-7 when David VanVooren hit a high chopper over the third baseman, allowing Jacob Katzfey to score from second.
Wichita State put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth when Ross Cadena led off with a base hit to left and Jack Sigrist smacked a one-out hit to left to put runners on first and second. Jacob Katzfey followed with a deep drive to the warning track in left, but Toppa came up with the catch against the wall as Cadena tagged and took third. UConn closer Jacob Wallace then retired VanVooren on three pitches to pick up his league-leading 15th save of the season.
Caleb Wurster picked up the win for UConn, improving to 4-1 after he worked a scoreless eighth inning. Alex Segal (1-2) struck out four but took the loss for the Shockers.
2019 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship
Spectrum Field · Clearwater, Fla.
Tuesday, May 21
Game 1: No. 4 UConn 4, No. 5 Houston 3
Game 2: No. 8 Wichita State 6, No. 1 ECU 2
Game 3: No. 2 Cincinnati 11, No. 7 Memphis 6
Game 4: No. 3 Tulane 5, No. 6 UCF 2
Wednesday, May 22
Game 5: ECU 13, Houston 2 (Houston eliminated)
Game 6: UCF 8, Memphis 7 (10 innings) (Memphis eliminated)
Thursday, May 23 | American Digital Network
Game 7: UConn 9, Wichita State 7
Game 8: Cincinnati vs. Tulane | 7 p.m. ET
Friday, May 24 | American Digital Network
Game 9: Wichita State vs. ECU | 3 p.m. ET
Game 10: Loser of Game 8 vs. UCF | 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, May 25 | American Digital Network
Game 11: UConn vs. Winner of Game 9 | 10 a.m. ET
Game 12: Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10 | 47 minutes following Game 11
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
Sunday, May 26 | Championship | ESPNews
Game 15: Semifinal winners | Noon ET