CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

CLEARWATER, Florida – Gephry Pena drove home John Montes in the 10^th inning as No. 2 UCF defeated No. 3 Houston, 9-8, at the 2022 TicketSmarter American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon at BayCare Ballpark.
 
With the win UCF (35-24) forces a second game with the Cougars (36-23) that will take place Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+.
 
Andrew Sundean doubled off the wall to start the bottom of the 10^th inning for UCF. After a walk to Trent Taylor, Gephry Pena drove a ball down the left field line to score Montes from second.
 
William Saxton (5-4) earned the win for UCF with a scoreless 10^th inning. Jose Torrealba took the loss, allowing one run in 1.1 innings of relief.
 
In the top of the ninth, Ryan Hernandez hit his 14^th home run of the season after Santiago Garcia singled to start the inning, but Kyle Kramer shut the door to keep the game tied at 8-8 and force extra innings.
 
Five Knights earned at least two hits, while five Cougars recorded two hits. Ian McMillan hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs for Houston.
 
After Houston scored got out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, UCF responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Knights tacked on three more in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead.
 
2022 TicketSmarter American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship
 
Schedule
Tuesday, May 24
Game 1: No. 4 Cincinnati 8, No. 5 Tulane 1
Game 2: No. 1 East Carolina 7, No. 8 South Florida 1
Game 3: No. 7 Memphis 7, No. 2 UCF 6
Game 4: No. 3 Houston 10, No. 6 Wichita State 7
 
Wednesday, May 25
Game 5: Tulane 9, South Florida 6 (South Florida eliminated)
Game 6: UCF 12, Wichita State 4 (Wichita State eliminated)
 
Thursday, May 26
Game 7: East Carolina 15, Cincinnati 5 (7 innings)
Game 8: Houston 8, Memphis 7
 
Friday, May 27
Game 9: Tulane 13, Cincinnati 5 (Cincinnati eliminated)
Game 10: UCF 15, Memphis 2 (7 innings – Memphis eliminated)
 
Saturday, May 28
Game 11: East Carolina 8, Tulane 5 (Tulane eliminated)
Game 12: UCF 9, Houston 8 (10 innings)
Game 14: Houston vs. UCF | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN+
 
Sunday, May 29
Game 15: Houston/UCF vs. East Carolina | Noon | ESPNEWS