East Carolina and Tulane scored convincing wins against nationally ranked opponents Tuesday to highlight a busy day of midweek action in The American Athletic Conference.
The Pirates powered their way to a 15-3 win against No. 8 North Carolina State Tuesday, as shortstop Turner Brown, first-baseman Bryce Harman and outfielder Zack Mozingo delivered home runs in front of 4,734 fans at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Harman went 3-for-3 with two walks and four RBIs, while Watkins was 3-for-5 with four runs scored as the Pirates hit a season-high with 15 runs against the Wolfpack.
Tulane, meanwhile, delivered its best performance of the season as the Green Wave was a 12-0 winner against No. 15 Southern Miss at Turchin Stadium. Third-baseman Hunter Hope smacked his conference-leading 10th home run of the season, while four Tulane pitchers combined for the shutout as starter J.P. France improved to 3-1 after working 6.0 innings. First baseman Hunter Williams was 2-for-4 with four RBIs for the Green Wave.
USF also won Tuesday night as the Bulls took a 6-2 decision against Bethune-Cookman at the USF Baseball Stadium. CatcherJoe Genord and outfielder Chris Chatfield both had two hits and two RBIs, while Michael Clarkson worked seven strong innings, finishing with seven strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year.
UCF dropped a heartbreaker to North Florida in Jacksonville, as the Ospreys scored a 4-3 walkoff win. Designated hitter Matt Diorio and outfielder Eugene Vazquez both went 2-for-4, but the Knights misplayed a double-play ball that would have forced extra innings, allowing the winning run to score.
Memphis fell to No. 14 Mississippi at AutoZone Park as the Tigers were limited to six hits - all singles - against Rebel pitching.
UConn came up short in the first of back-to-back games against Massachusetts opponents as the Huskies fell 9-5 at UMass. Outfielder Joe DeRoche-Duffin continued his hot streak at the plate by going 2-for-5 with two RBIs, giving him nine RBIs in his last six games.
Cincinnati fell on the road to Ohio State as the Buckeyes yielded only three hits in a 9-0 victory against the Bearcats.
Two games are on the conference ledger for Wednesday as East Carolina visits High Point and UConn is at UMass Lowell.