UH makes AAC semis; Rice keeps hope alive

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Aaron Fletcher struck out the final two batters with the go-ahead run on base in the ninth inning as the second-seeded University of Houston beat thirdseeded Connecticut 7-6 on Thursday.

The victory sends the Cougars (38-19) to the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals for the fourth year in a row. UH will face either Connecticut or Memphis on Saturday, needing only one win to advance to Sunday’s championship game.

UH lost to UConn in last year’s title game.

“Last year, we came up short,” UH outfielder Corey Julks said. “This year, we’re trying to finish it off.”

Fletcher allowed three straight singles to begin the ninth, the last by Anthony Prato to pull the Huskies within a run. Facing the heart of the UConn lineup with two runners on base, Fletcher struck out Zac Susi and Isaac Feldstein, who hit a three-run homer earlier in the game, for his eighth save.

Tyler Bielamowicz was 2-for-3 for the Cougars, hitting his first career home run — a solo shot in the third — and an RBI double in the eighth. Lael Lockhart was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles.

Also Thursday, No. 1 seed Central Florida beat No. 5 Tulane 8-3, and eighth-seeded East Carolina edged No. 4 South Florida 6-5.

CONFERENCE USA

Rice’s hope for an NCAA Tournament bid is still alive.

Behind 31⁄3 innings of scoreless relief from Glenn Otto, the Owls defeated Old Dominion 4-3 to stay in the winners bracket of the Conference USA tournament in Biloxi, Miss. Rice (29-29) is off Friday and will continue its quest Saturday.

In other games, No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic beat No. 7 Florida International 8-4, and top-seeded Southern Miss defeated No. 5 Louisiana Tech 5-2. No. 4 seed Charlotte shut out No. 8 UTSA 5-0 in the final game of the night.

BIG 12

Jared Janczak threw five shutout innings to help No. 2 seed TCU defeat No. 3 seed Oklahoma 9-4 in a Big 12 tournament elimination game at Oklahoma City.

Janczak, an All-Big 12 first-team pitcher, gave up three hits and struck out eight to improve to 8-0 on the season. Elliott Barzilli had three hits for the Horned Frogs (40-15), who next play Kansas, a 5-4 loser to Texas.

Elsewhere, Colin Simpson hit two home runs to help No. 8 seed Oklahoma State defeat West Virginia 8-4 in the winners bracket. The Cowboys need just a win Saturday to reach the final.

Braden Zarbnisky had four hits for fourth-seeded West Virginia, which will play top-seeded Texas Tech in an elimination game on Friday. BJ Myers took the loss for the Mountaineers.

In an earlier game, Ryan Long was 3-for-3 with an RBI double to help top-seeded Texas Tech (43-14) bounce back from an opening loss with a 4-1 win over Baylor.

Montana Parsons took the loss for the fifthseeded Bears (34-21), who were eliminated from the tournament with the loss.