Championship Central
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Jace Mercer went 4-for-4 with a grand slam and Cincinnati set a championship record with 22 runs as the Bearcats won their first conference championship in 52 years with a 22-5 win against UConn Sunday at Spectrum Field in the American Athletic Conference Championship presented by Air Force Reserve.
The win gives Cincinnati (30-29) its first American Athletic Conference title in baseball and clinches the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, marking the Bearcats’ first NCAA tournament appearance since 1974. Cincinnati won its first conference postseason title since 1967, when the Bearcats won the Missouri Valley Conference crown.
Rightfielder A.J. Bumpass was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after he hit .643 with a double, a triple, two home runs and seven RBIs in the tournament, including a solo home run in Sunday’s final.
Cincinnati, which had been 0-10 all-time in the American Athletic Conference Championship and had lost 17 straight conference tournament games since 2008 before going 4-0 this week, had been tabbed eighth of nine teams in The American’s preseason coaches’ poll. The Bearcats ended up finishing second in the conference’s regular-season standings, despite not having a player chosen to the league’s first or second all-conference teams.
The conference tournament was a different story as six Bearcat players were named to the all-tournament team after the Bearcats rewrote the record book with 22 runs, 24 hits, four home runs and a 17-run margin of victory, wrapping an impressive offensive showing in which the Bearcats scored a tournament-record 51 runs in their four games. Cincinnati hit a conference-record .390 during the week (60-for-154) after hitting .246 as a team in the regular season.
The Bearcats broke the game open in the top of the third on back-to-back RBI singles to center by Wyatt Stapp and Joey Wiemer before Mitch Holding delivered the big blow with a towering three-run home run to leftfield, making it 6-1.
UConn got back in it in the bottom of the third as Chris Winkel laced a bases-loaded single to right-center, bringing two runs in to make it 6-3.
Cincinnati responded with three more in the top of the fourth to build a 9-3 advantage as Stapp and Holding delivered RBI singles and Bellini scored on a wild pitch.
UConn used an infield hit deep in the shortstop hole by pinch hitter Christian Fedko to score Winkel and make it 9-4. The Huskies brought the tying run to the plate in the fifth when Anthony Prato came up with the bases loaded and two outs. But Garrett Schoenle got Prato on a grounder to third to end the threat.
Bellini’s solo home run pushed Cincinnati’s lead to 10-4 in the top of the sixth. Cole Murphy added a two-run double in the top of the seventh to make it 12-4.
The Bearcats put an exclamation point on the win with Mercer’s grand slam in the seventh, which was followed by Bumpass’ solo shot.
Garrett Schoenle picked up the pitching decision for the Bearcats, improving to 4-1 after he worked 4.0 innings and allowed one run.
Regional sites for the 2019 NCAA Championship will be announced Sunday, while the 64-team field will be announced Monday.
2019 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship
Spectrum Field · Clearwater, Fla.
Tuesday, May 21
No. 4 UConn 4, No. 5 Houston 3
No. 8 Wichita State 6, No. 1 ECU 2
No. 2 Cincinnati 11, No. 7 Memphis 6
No. 3 Tulane 5, No. 6 UCF 2
Wednesday, May 22
ECU 13, Houston 2 (Houston eliminated)
UCF 8, Memphis 7 (10 innings) (Memphis eliminated)
Thursday, May 23
UConn 9, Wichita State 7
Cincinnati 8, Tulane 4
Friday, May 24
Wichita State 12, ECU 5 (ECU eliminated)
UCF 6, Tulane 2 (Tulane eliminated)
Saturday, May 25
UConn 8, Wichita State 3 (Wichita State eliminated)
Cincinnati 10, UCF 6 (UCF eliminated)
Sunday, May 26 | Championship
Cincinnati 22, UConn 5
All-Tournament Team
P Jordan Spicer, UCF
P Jacob Wallace, UConn
P Kaleb Roper, Tulane
C Mitch Holding, Cincinnati
IF Joey Bellini, Cincinnati
IF Jace Mercer, Cincinnati
IF Chris Winkel, UConn
IF Mason O’Brien, Wichita State
OF AJ Bumpass, Cincinnati
OF Jeremy Johnson, Cincinnati
OF David VanVooren, Wichita State
UTY Wyatt Stapp, Cincinnati
Most Outstanding Player
OF AJ Bumpass, Cincinnati