CLEARWATER, Florida – South Florida advanced to the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship title game with a 7-1 win over Tulane Saturday night, May 29 at BayCare Ballpark.
With the win, South Florida will face in-state rival UCF in the championship game on Sunday, May 30 at noon ET/11 a.m. CT on ESPNews. It is the first title appearance for both teams.
South Florida (27-27) scored in each of the first four innings, taking advantage of five walks and four wild pitches by Tulane pitchers and highlighted by home runs by Carmine Lane and Riley Hogan.
Tulane (31-24) got on the board on an RBI double by Collin Burns. It was Burns’ tournament-record 11th RBI. Keagan Gillies pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief and struck out 11 batters.
Brad Lord (3-3) earned the win after pitching six scoreless innings, scattering four hits with eight strikeouts. Orion Kerkering picked up his third save after tossing the last three innings, allowing one run.
Trent Johnson (3-5) took the loss, allowing a run in two-thirds of an inning.
Tulane defeated South Florida, 16-6 in eight innings, to force the second matchup of the day.
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 2, East Carolina 1 (East Carolina eliminated)
Game 14: South Florida 7, Tulane 1 (Tulane eliminated)
Sunday, May 30 | ESPNews
Game 15: South Florida vs. UCF | Noon
All times Eastern
