No. 5 seed Tulane (32–24) delivered a strong performance on Thursday, May 22, scoring early and late to take down No. 1 seed UTSA (43–12) with a 10–6 win in the second round of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Baseball Championship at BayCare Ballpark.
The Green Wave have now won eight straight AAC Championship games dating back to 2023.
Reliever Tayler Montiel (5–2) earned the win with 3.2 shutout innings. He allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out four. Starter Luc Fladda went five innings, giving up five runs on six hits. Trey Cehajic also pitched briefly, giving up one run while recording one out in the sixth.
Tulane’s offense was a team effort, with five players collecting multiple hits and five recording multiple RBIs. They scored four runs in the third inning and broke a 6–6 tie with four more runs across the eighth and ninth.
James Agabedis III led the charge with two home runs. Theo Bryant IV and Matthias Haas each had three hits. Bryant added a home run, two RBIs, and a run scored. Haas scored twice and knocked in two more. Jason Wachs hit a key home run and drove in two runs. Connor Rasmussen contributed two hits, a run, and two RBIs, while Kaikea Harrison added two hits and scored twice.
The loss went to UTSA’s Connor Kelley (3–1), who gave up two runs in two innings of relief.
Tulane exploded for four runs in the third inning, thanks to a two-run double by Rasmussen and a two-run homer by Haas. UTSA responded in the bottom half with back-to-back RBI singles by Mason Lytle and Norris McClure.
Agabedis added a solo home run in the fourth to make it 5–2, but Lytle cut the lead with a solo shot in the fifth for UTSA.
Bryant’s sixth homer of the year in the sixth inning extended Tulane’s lead to 6–3. UTSA rallied again in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game 6–6 with an RBI single from Caden Miller and a two-run hit by Lorenzo Morresi.
Tulane reclaimed control in the eighth. Agabedis hit his second homer of the game, followed by a two-run blast from Wachs to make it 9–6. Bryant added an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI single.
Tulane’s next game is scheduled for Saturday, May 24, at 9 a.m. ET (8 a.m. CT). They will face the winner of Friday’s game between Florida Atlantic and UTSA.
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