UConn and Tulane will meet for the second time in three days as the American Athletic Conference baseball championship continues Friday in Clearwater, Fla.
Vinny Siena, a first-team All-AAC selection and the NEIBA New England Player of the Year, kept UConn’s s season alive in dramatic fashi0n Thursday. His game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning gave UConn (34-24) a 4-3 win over UCF at Bright House Field.
Tulane, which beat UConn 3-1 Wednesday, lost to East Carolina 3-1 Thursday night to drop into the loser’s bracket with UConn in the double-elimination tournament. Both teams will be fighting to keep playing when they play at 3 p.m. Friday. USF and Memphis meet in the first game Friday, while Houston and East Carolina await the two winners.
Siena’s single gave the Huskies their first walk-off win of the season. Siena was 3-for-4 with two waks and two RBI. Joe DeRoche-Duffin also had a three-hit day and hit his 10th home run of the year, while Jack Sundberg went 2-for-5 with a double and a walk from the leadoff spot. Aaron Hill
American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Carson Cross started for UConn and lasted seven-plus, rebounding from a two-run second inning to allow three runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Cre Finfrock got the start for UCF and allowed three runs on four hits in 6.2 innings with four walks and four strikeouts. Patrick Ruotolo (Peabody, Mass.) and Anthony Kay (Stony Brook, N.Y.) combined to provide four scoreless innings of relief for the Huskies, striking out three batters each.
With one out in the 11th, Hill and Sundberg put together back-to-back base hits to put two on for Siena, who singled into center field, placing the ball perfectly for Hill to score from second and beat the tag to give UConn a 4-3 win.
View the tournament bracket here.
– Material from UConn and AAC included in this report.
Speak Your Mind