CLEARWATER, Florida – Tulane took down South Florida, 16-6, in eight innings at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon, May 29 at BayCare Ballpark. With the win, the two teams will face off later Saturday after UCF and East Carolina’s matchup scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT. The winners of each contest will play for the championship Sunday, May 30 at noon ET/11 a.m. CT on ESPNEWS.
Tulane (31-23) had 10 different players score and Collin Burns set a tournament record with seven RBI that came on a grand slam in the fourth and a 3-run triple in the seventh. The previous record was six, which was achieved four times.
Donovan Benoit (4-4) earned the win after striking out nine Bulls in 4.1 innings of relief with one run allowed. Dylan Burns (4-5) took the loss, allowing six runs in 3.2 innings.
The Bulls (26-27) got on the board first with a 2-run single in the top of the second by Jarrett Eaton and built a 5-1 lead on a solo home run by Carmine Lane in the top of the fourth.
The Green Wave came back with six in the bottom of the fourth, highlighted by the grand slam by Burns and a 2-run home run by Chase Engelhard.
Tulane scored five more in the bottom of the seventh as Frankie Neimann and Luis Aviles recorded RBI doubles before Burns added a 3-run triple.
After USF scored on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth, Tulane added four runs to finish off the game, with Jacob Laprairie’s RBI single being the final score of the game.
Championship Schedule
Tuesday, May 25 | ESPN+
Game 1: No. 5 UCF 14, No. 4 Cincinnati 10
Game 2: No. 8 Memphis 11, No. 1 East Carolina 1 (7 innings)
Game 3: No. 2 Tulane 4, No. 7 Houston 1
Game 4: No. 6 South Florida 7, No. 3 Wichita State 2
Wednesday, May 26 | ESPN+
Game 5: East Carolina 13, Cincinnati 9 (Cincinnati eliminated)
Game 6: Wichita State 5, Houston 3 (Houston eliminated)
Thursday, May 27 | ESPN+
Game 7: UCF 17, Memphis 1 (7 innings)
Game 8: South Florida 5, Tulane 0
Friday, May 28 | ESPN+
Game 9: East Carolina 12, Memphis 0 (7 innings) (Memphis eliminated)
Game 10: Tulane 12, Wichita State 2 (7 innings) (Wichita State eliminated)
Saturday, May 29 | ESPN+
Game 11: East Carolina 5, UCF 2
Game 12: Tulane 16, South Florida 6 (8 innings)
Game 13: UCF vs. East Carolina | 5:30 p.m.
Game 14: South Florida vs. Tulane | 47 minutes after Game 13
Sunday, May 30 | ESPNews
Game 15: Semifinal winners | Noon
All times Eastern
