USF picked up a doubleheader sweep in American Athletic Conference baseball action on Saturday, May 8.

Saturday, May 8
East Carolina 7, Tulane 4 (Game 1) - Box Score
Tulane 7, East Carolina (Game 2) - Box Score
USF 7, Memphis 4 (Game 1 - 10 innings) - Box Score
USF 6, Memphis 5 (Game 2) - Box Score
Houston 6, Cincinnati 5 - Box Score
Wichita State 10, UCF 3 - Box Score

East Carolina 7, Tulane 4 (Game 1) - Box Score
Tulane 7, East Carolina (Game 2) - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 13 East Carolina and No. 22 Tulane split an American Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Pirates (32-10, 14-5) took game one 7-4 and Tulane (25-16, 14-4) earned the win in the second contest 7-6.

Game 1
Tulane struck first scoring a run in the third inning taking an early 1-0 lead. Simon Baumgardt led off with a double to right-center and two batters later scored on Collin Burns RBI single to center.
 
C.J. Mayhue (3-1) earned the win working 2.1 innings of relief allowing two runs (both unearned) on two hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Matt Bridges notched his second save of the season tossing 1.1 scoreless frames with a pair of punch outs. Starter Tyler Smith gave up two runs (both earned) on five hits with three walks and three punch outs in 4.2 innings of work. Cam Colmore also worked two-thirds of an inning without allowing a run, walking one and striking out one.
 
Jack Aldrich (4-2) took the loss after allowing four runs (all earned) on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts in five innings. Trent Johnson was touched for three runs (all earned) on three hits issuing three walks and fanning four in three innings.
 
The Pirates returned serve scoring four runs in the home half of the third for a 4-1 advantage. Norby walked to get things going and took third on Francisco's single and a Green Wave error. Agnos tied the game at one on an RBI ground out pushing across Norby and Seth Caddell's RBI single to left field plated Francisco. Bryson Worrell followed with another single to left, Lane Hoover walked and Moylan loaded the bases with a base hit to right field. Ryley Johnson reached on a fielder's choice scoring Worrell for the final run of the stanza.

Game 2
In the second game, redshirt freshman Ethan Groff uncorked a monster two-run home run in the top half of the eighth inning to propel the No. 22 Tulane University baseball team to a come-from-behind 7-6 win over East Carolina University Saturday night inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
 
Win the win, Tulane improved to 25-16 overall and 14-4 in American Athletic Conference play to reclaim first place in the league. The Green Wave's win handed ECU handed the Pirates just their fourth loss at home this season.
 
Tulane also became just the second team this season to defeat ECU after it held the lead after seven innings. Coming into game three, ECU owned a 26-1 mark when leading after seven innings.
 
In addition, the Green Wave's win over ECU marked the second time this season Tulane had defeated a ranked opponent (No. 5 Mississippi State, Feb. 26).
 
Groff's two-run home run was his second hit of the night and his fourth home run of the year. The Orlando, Florida, native also scored a pair of runs. Redshirt junior Luis Aviles had a strong night at the plate as well, finishing with a pair of hits and drove in a team-high three runs.
 
Redshirt sophomore Collin Burns and freshman Bennett Lee also continued their consecutive on base streaks to 24 and 23 games, respectively.

USF 7, Memphis 4 (Game 1 - 10 innings) - Box Score
USF 6, Memphis 5 (Game 2) - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (May 8, 2021) – An impromptu doubleheader on Saturday led to plenty of late game theatrics and drama between the University of South Florida (20-22, 10-10 AAC) and the University of Memphis (14-32, 4-20 AAC), as the USF Bulls prevailed with a sweep of the Tigers for their first conference series win of the season.
 
USF saw its one-run lead slip away in the ninth inning of the opener only to come away with a 7-4 victory in 10 innings, and held off a late Memphis rally in the finale for a 6-5 win.
 
The Bulls posted a 2.25 ERA over the four-game series, limiting Memphis to 14 runs after the Tigers had scored 33 in their most recent series against UCF.
 
Game 1 
Nick Gonzalez played hero in the opener with a three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning. The round-tripper was just the second of the redshirt sophomore's career – the other coming in his very first collegiate at-bat in 2019, which was also a three-run blast.
 
Gonzalez finished the game with a career-high four RBI, the first of which came on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fifth frame. USF scored three runs in the fifth to erase a one-run deficit and take a 3-1 advantage.    
 
The Tigers made it a one-run affair once more with a run in the bottom of the sixth, where the game remained until Matt Ruiz tacked on a big insurance run with a two-out solo homer in the eighth inning.
 
Memphis answered with single runs in the bottom of the eighth and ninth to send the game to extras.
 
On the mound, Collin Sullivan was electric once again in a no-decision. The redshirt senior allowed two runs on five hits and struck out a season-high 13 over 6.0 IP. Sullivan's strikeout total reached 11 after just four innings.
 
Sullivan and Orion Kerkering combined for a season-best 22 strikeouts on the mound.
 
Kerkering (4-3) earned the win after fanning a career-high nine batters. The redshirt freshman yielded two runs (one earned) on three hits over 4.0 IP. After allowing the tying run to score in the ninth inning, the winning run reached third base against Kerkering, but the right-hander escaped the jam to set up Gonzalez's heroics in extras.
 
Game 2 
With a series victory in their sights, the Bulls jumped out to a 6-1 lead on the Tigers after four innings in the nightcap. Ruiz, Daniel Cantu, Carmine Lane, Joaquin Monque and Nelson Rivera each drove in runs in what looked to be a run-away victory.
 
Memphis did not go down quietly though on its home field, and proceeded to score four unanswered runs from the fifth inning on, with the rally extending into the bottom of the ninth frame.
 
The Tigers opened the ninth with a leadoff double which came around to score two batters later off Logan Lyle. The tying run moved into scoring position with one out, and advanced to third with two outs before Tanner Mink recorded the final out of the day for his first career save.
 
For the second weekend in a row, Lyle (3-1) was the winning pitcher of record after providing USF with a much-needed long relief effort on the mound.

Houston 6, Cincinnati 5 - Box Score
HOUSTON – Houston shortstop Ian McMillan sent a game-winning RBI-single into right field in the ninth inning as the Cougars walked off Cincinnati, 6-5, on Saturday afternoon from Don Sanders Field at Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park.
 
Ryan Hernandez (2-for-4), who homered in the fourth, started the ninth by shooting an 0-2 single into right field. Pinch runner Samuel Benjamin stole second and scored the winning run on the McMillan (1-for-5) single, sliding headfirst to beat the throw from right field.
 
Houston's Samuel Tormos (2-for-3) continued his weekend breakout performance, clobbering a solo home run to spark the Cougars' three-run fifth inning. Houston overcame an early three-run deficit while Derrick Cherry (2-3) earned his second win in relief.
 
Cherry protected Houston's lead, stranding two on a strikeout in the eighth, helped in part by a diving grab from Tormos. Cherry worked around three hits and allowed one run while striking out five in 3.0 innings.
 
With the win, Houston improves to 17-25 overall and 5-14 in American Athletic Conference play. Cincinnati, which tied the game with a two-out RBI-single from Joey Bellini in the ninth inning, falls to 23-21 overall and 12-11 in league action.

Wichita State 10, UCF 3 - Box Score
ORLANDO – Paxton Wallace homered twice, including a grand slam, leading Wichita State to a 10-3 win over the UCF Knights in game three of an American Athletic Conference series Saturday, May 8, at John Euliano Park.
 
A native of Greenbrier, Ark., Wallace went 2-for-4 at the plate, tallying two homers in a game for the third time this season, and drove in a game-high six runs to lead the Shockers.
 
Hunter Gibson added a pair of hits, while Jack Sigrist, Ross Cadena and Andrew Stewart each doubled in the game, with Stewart also batting in two runs, and Sigrist and Gibson each posting one RBI, respectively.
 
Wichita State right-hander Liam Eddy (4-7) earned the victory on the mound after allowing three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in five innings of work.
 
WSU relievers LJ McDonough (three innings) and Tommy Barnhouse (one inning) each had scoreless outings in the win.