END OF DAY 2 THOUGHTS
Day two of the American Conference Baseball Championships provided an upset, some great pitching, and a dramatic finale.
In game one, the seventh seeded USF Bulls pulled off the first big upset of the week, knocking off the two-see ECU 4-2 behind an outstanding outing from Brandon Lawson who went seven innings allowing just two runs on seven hits and striking out eight. East Carolina’s Evan Kruczynski was equally as good, throwing seven innings, giving up two runs, scattering seven hits and striking out six.
However, ECU walked five Bulls in the ninth to allow the two deciding runs to score.
In game two, The American Pitcher of the Year, Anthony Kay, didn’t dissappoint. Kay threw his second complete game of the season scattering nine hits, allowing two runs and striking out six in just 101 pitches. Joe Toppa led the Huskies with three hits and four RBI. For Memphis, Jake Overbey reached base four times with a career high three hits.
Memphis faces ECU Wednesday at 11:00 while USF and UConn play at 7:00.
Game three provided lots of excitment. Cincinnati held a four run lead behind Andrew Zellner who went seven innings before the Knights rallied to tie it up in seventh. The Bearcats would then go up by a run in the ninth, but a Luke Hamblin rbi-single tied it up and sent it to extras. A.J. Bumpass would send Cincinnati up by a run again in the tenth for a 6-5 lead.
But, the Knights would strike last, a lead-off triple by Josh Moser would set up a sacrifice fly by Ryan Crile to tie the game at 6. Then it was time for the heroics. Brooks Morgan, who had kept the dugout alive the whole game with a variety of “Rally Hats” was sent to the plate to pinch-hit, and on the first pitch he saw, he ended the game with his second homer of the year into Frenchy's on the top of the left-field pavilion for a 7-6 UCF win.
With the win, UCF gets Thursday off before coming back Friday against tomorrow’s Houston/Tulane loser. Cincinnati's season comes to an end with the loss, still a great turn around for Ty Neal's club who made an 11 game improvement over last season
DAY 2 - PREGAME
On day two of the American Baseball Championships, we begin play in the second bracket. First up will be USF vs ECU at 11:00, then Memphis vs UConn at 3:00 before our first elimination game at 7:00 featuring Cincinnati and UCF.
USF vs ECU
USF won the series 2-1 in mid-May
USF 7-seed 23-31/8-16
*If the Bulls’ pitching staff can get it to the later innings, USF has one of the best closers in the league in Tommy Eveld. In 25 games, he has 9 saves and a 1.84era.
*The Bulls were hit hard with injuries following an NCAA Regional a year ago. Kevin Merrell played in just 38 and Levi Borders was limited to 16 games.
*The Bull’s coaching staff has done an excellent job in keeping the talent in state. All 33 players on the USF roster are from Florida.
ECU 2-seed 34-19-1/15-8-1
*In his first year as head coach, Cliff Godwin led the Pirates to the American Tournament Championship in 2015.
*The Pirates boast one of the best weekend rotations in the league, Jimmy Boyd, Evan Kruczynski, and Jacob Wolf have gone a combined 19-8 with a 2.22era.
*ECU leads The American in hitting with a .288 average along with the league’s batting champion, freshman Dwanya Williams-Sutton who hit .372.
Memphis vs UConn
UConn won the series 2-1
Memphis 6-seed 19-37/9-15
*The Tigers have one of the youngest pitching staffs in the league with eight freshmen and four sophomores.
*To be successful this week, Memphis must get on base early. If they do they can get their running game going which has produced 77 stolen bases despite having no individuals in the NCAA’s top 50.
*Memphis rested starters Colton Hathcock and Matt Ferguson the final weekend. Hathcock threw short relief which Ferguson did not appear.
UConn 33-22/14-9
*The Huskies are the hottest team in The American, winning nine straight entering their tournament opener. A good week could put them on the good side of the NCAA bubble.
*UConn has a great one-two duo on the mound. Anthony Kay went 7-2 with a 2.47 era to win the league’s Pitcher of the Year, while Anthony Kay was 3-1 with a 2.87era en route to The American’s Rookie Pitcher of the Year award.
*The Huskies also featured the Player and Coach of the Year. OF Joe DeRoche-Duffin hit 17 homers and drove in 52 runs as Head Coach Jim Penders led UConn to the 3-seed winning six straight American games to end the season.
Cincinnati vs UCF
The Knights won the series 2-1 in early May
Cincinnati; lost to Houston 9-1 Tuesday
*A.J. Olasz was solid early before being chased in the sixth. The left-hander finished with 5.1ip, walking just one and scattering five hits.
*Ryan Noda hit his sixth home-run of the year, a fifth-inning shot to right field.
*Cincinnati will be looking for their first postseason win since 2008.
UCF Lost 4-3 to Tulane Tuesday
*Robby Howell threw 6.2ip allowing just 4 hits and 2 earned runs in last night’s game against Tulane.
*The Knights hope to continue their offensive success against Cincinnati, they scored 22 runs in the series against the Bearcats.
*Sam Tolleson drove in two runs Tuesday with a 2-run single in the fifth.
END OF DAY 1 THOUGHTS
Managing a pitching staff is alway the biggest challenge for a coach on the opening day of a conference tournament. Some go with the regular weekend rotation, while some take a chance with a a mid-week starter or reliever.
In game one of the Championship, both Ty Neal of Cincinnati and Todd Whiting of Houston opted to start off the tournament with a couple of mid-week pitchers due to the short week.
For the Bearcats, A.J. Olasz was coming off four straight mid-week starts and most recently threw 5.1 shutout innings against Western Carolina a week ago.
The last start for the Cougars Trey Cumbie was the series finale against Cincinnati where he went 5.2 innings, allowing just four hits and no runs. Prior to that, he was part of a 10-0 shut out of Rice where he threw 8 innings, scattering just five hits on May 10.
Today’s “Play of the Game” may have been Houston’s Connor Hollis’ 2-run bunt in the top of the 6th that opened up a 4-1 lead for the Cougars. Meanwhile freshman Trey Cumbie struck out a career high nine in seven innings and Hollis ended with 3 RBI in a 9-1 Cougar win. Cincinnati threatened in the eight and loaded the bases with one out, but Houston went to Nick Hernandez who got back-to-back strike outs to end the inning.
Houston has the day off tomorrow which will allow them to rest the bullpen and likely start Seth Romero against Tulane on Thursday. Meanwhile, Cincinnati will play in tomorrow’s elimination game at 7:00 against UCF.
In game two, UCF started second-team All Conference right-hander Robby Howell who went 6.2 innings against Tulane on April 22 giving up nine hits and four runs. Tulane opted to give give Trevor Simms his first start of the season, bringing in a 4-1 record in 14 relief outings.
Simms would last just 2.1 innings, allowing no runs on two hits and Tulane would string together relievers for the remainder of the game.
Howell would go 6.2 allowing just 4 hits and 2 earned runs.
UCF would grab a 3-0 lead midway through the game highlighted by Sam Tolleson’s 2-run single in the fifth. Back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the inning would help the Green Wave chip away, answering with two runs. The Green Wave would get an rbi single in the sixth from Jake Rogers and a Jeremy Montalbano double in the seventh would score Grant Witherspoon to give them the lead.
Tulane used six pitchers in the game with Corey Merrill earning the decision in the 4-3 Green Wave win.
UCF comes back tomorrow to face Cincinnati while Tulane will take on Houston Thursday.
DAY 1 - Tuesday Pregame
We’re finally here, day one of The American Conference Baseball Championships! We’ll have two games, Houston vs Cincinnati at 3:00 followed by UCF vs Tulane at 7:00. Winning in this bracket gets you an added bonus, a day off. Winners will face each other on Thursday at 3:00, while the losing teams turn around to play at 7:00 tomorrow night.
Let’s take a look at the teams in these two games.
Game One: Cincinnati vs Houston
- Houston won season series 2-1 at Cincinnati
Cincinnati 4th seed 26-28-1/13-10-1
*The Bearcats had the biggest turn-around of any team this year, improving on last year’s 15-41 campaign to win 26 games and finish in the top half of the league.
*UC will need some offensive production this afternoon after scoring just two runs in their series with the Cougars two weeks ago and their running game could be the difference. Cincinnati led the conference in stolen bases.
*Starting pitching will be paramount, the Bearcats finished fourth in ERA and have a solid 1-2 punch in the Rotation in Andrew Zellner (7-4, 2.21) and J.T. Perez (6-5 2.97).
Houston 5th seed 33-12/11-12
*The Cougars are looking for a third straight American Championship, winning the tournament in 2014 and the regular season a year ago.
*Freshman Joe Davis was The American Rookie Position Player of the Year. He led the state of Texas in homers for two years at Bowie High School and was drafted a year ago by Tampa Bay.
*The Cougars feature five All-Conference selections and their post-season experience could propel them to a long tournament run.
Game Two: UCF vs Tulane
- Tulane Swept UCF in late April
UCF 8th seed, 23-31/8-16
*Pitcher Robby Howell was named second-team All-Conference after going 7-3 with a 1.91 era which led the league.
*The Knights led the league in turning 55 double-plays this season and are fielding .972 as a team.
*You could see a lot of Harrison Hukari this week, the reliever appeared in 31 games this season, going 2-3 with 3 saves and a 3.44 era.
Tulane #1 seed, 37-17/15-7
*Tulane enters the week coming off it’s first regular-season championship since 2005.
*The Green Wave boast 7 All-Conference selections including Emerson Gibbs who went 7 innings, giving up no earned runs in a 4-3 series opener against the Knights on April 22.
*Scoring runs on Tulane will prove tough, they were second in The American in pitching as well as the best fielding team in the league.