UH eliminated in AAC; Rice alive in C-USA

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The University of Houston bowed out of the American Athletic Conference tournament with a 12-1 run-rule loss to East Carolina on Friday.

After coming out of the loser’s bracket to win three straight games, the Cougars’ weary pitching staff struggled with eight walks and four hit batters.

UH (36-23), which had advanced to the tournament championship game each of the last four years, must wait until Monday to learn if it will be in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field.

Tyler Bielamowicz hit his third home run of the tournament to lead off the game but the Cougars went silent the rest of the way against East Carolina lefthander Jake Kuchmaner. Kuchmaner allowed only four hits.

The Pirates jumped on Bielamowicz and reliever Hunter Edwards for 11 runs (10 earned). Ahead 2-1, the Pirates sent 11 batters to the plate during a five-run third inning. In the inning, capitalizing on three walks and three hit batters.

The top five batters in the ECU lineup went a combined 10-of-17 with six RBIs and 10 runs scored. Connor Litton had three doubles and three RBIs for ECU, which advances to play the South FloridaConnecticut winner in the AAC title game. RICE 5 FLORIDA ATLANTIC 4 Freshman Trei Cruz broke a 3-3 deadlock with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Rice over No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic and into the winner’s bracket game at the Conference USA tournament in Biloxi, Miss.

Rice, now 26-29-2 on the season, will play Florida Atlantic at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

HOUSTON BAPTIST 6 SAM HOUSTON ST. 4

Jake Pulcheon tied the game with a three-run homer in the sixth, then two batters later, Jake Scott hit a solo homer, helping the Huskies eliminate the top-seeded Bearkats from the Southland Conference tournament at Sugar Land’s Constellation Field.

Houston Baptist (28-29) advanced to face New Orleans in an elimination game later Friday night.

Sam Houston State fell to 39-20.

ELSEWHERE

Texas Tech was eliminated from the Big 12 tournament with a 12-4 loss to West Virginia, which moves on to face TCU (32-22) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Oklahoma City. … Texas A&M (3919), which had Friday off, will face Mississippi in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament at noon Saturday in Hoover, Ala. Mississippi defeated Auburn 7-0. … Baylor (34-19) will face Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma beat Kansas 4-2.