Five American Athletic Conference baseball squads picked up midweek wins, including East Carolina who went 2-0.

Tuesday, March 22
East Carolina 3, UNCW 1 - Box Score
South Florida 16, FGCU 7 - Box Score
Houston 9, Sam Houston 1 - Box Score
Florida State 10, UCF 2 - Box Score

Wednesday, March 23
East Carolina 7, Elon 6 - Box Score
Wichita State 7, Kansas 5 (10 innings) - Box Score
Tulane 7, SE Louisiana 6 - Box Score
Ole Miss 11, Memphis 8 - Box Score

East Carolina 3, UNCW 1 - Box Score
WILMINGTON, N.C. – East Carolina scored a pair of runs in the eighth inning to break a one-all tie before securing a 3-1 win over UNC Wilmington Tuesday night at Brooks Field. The Pirates improved to 11-10 with the victory, while the Seahawks fell to 12-8.
 
With the game knotted at one in the eighth, ECU pushed across a pair to take a 3-1 lead. Ben Newton singled through the right side and was lifted for Jake Kuchmaner as a pinch runner at first. Bryson Worrell moved Kuchmaner over to second on a sac bunt and he came around to score on a throwing error by Baldwin at second base during Lane Hoover's at-bat. Hoover would steal second and took third on a throwing error by the catcher (Bryan Arendt) and scored on Jacob Jenkins-Cowart's sac fly to right field.
 
Garrett Saylor (2-2) earned the win tossing three scoreless frames in relief with three strikeouts. Making his second career start, Ryder Giles tossed a career-high 3.1 innings allowing two hits, walking one and striking out a pair before passing the ball off to Carter Spivey in the fourth inning. Spivey allowed one run (earned) on two hits with three punch outs in 2.2 innings.

South Florida 16, FGCU 7 - Box Score
FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 22, 2022) – Sophomore Drew Brutcher circled the bases twice as part of a five-homer barrage for the University of South Florida (14-7) in a 16-7 triumph at Florida Gulf Coast University (16-5) on Tuesday night. The Bulls' victory snapped the Eagles' five-game winning streak.

Tuesday marked the third multi-homer game for Brutcher this season – each of them occurring over the past 11 games.

Brutcher started the ariel assault and staked South Florida to an early 1-0 lead with a solo blast in the top of the first inning. FGCU tied the game with a run in the bottom of the frame, but the Bulls continued to apply pressure in the opening innings, scoring seven runs in the first four frames.

Carmine Lane's five RBI night started with a two-run single with two outs in the second inning to put USF back on top, 3-1. Matt Ruiz tagged a solo home run in the third, and Brutcher struck again with a three-run shot in the fourth to make it a 7-3 affair.

Houston 9, Sam Houston 1 - Box Score
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Houston rode a strong start from Derrick Cherry and did damage in the middle frames offensively, taking Game 1 of the Sanders Cup from Sam Houston, 9-1 on Tuesday night from Don Sanders Stadium.
 
The win improved Houston (14-7) to 6-0 in the midweek including 4-0 on the road. It was also the Cougars' fourth straight win against the Bearkats (12-9). Houston produced double-digit hits for a fifth straight game, totaling 11.
 
Houston right fielder Alex Lopez (1-for-4) and first baseman Ryan Hernandez (1-for-4) crushed home runs to highlight a three-run seventh inning. Lopez's third homer of the season was a two-run shot. Hernandez's second long ball of the year put the Cougars ahead 9-1.

Florida State 10, UCF 2 - Box Score
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 7 Florida State (14-6) scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to defeat UCF Baseball (13-8) 10-2 on Tuesday night in Tallahassee. Chase Centala was pegged with the loss, working 3.2 innings allowing six runs.
 
Florida State opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth, batting around to take a 6-0 lead. The Knights responded in the fifth, when Ben Rushing singled through the right side to score Noah Orlando from second. UCF added another run in the sixth off Gephry Pena's solo home run to left center field. 

East Carolina 7, Elon 6 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Jacob Starling hit his first career home run, a two-run shot, in the sixth inning helping East Carolina to a 7-6 win over Elon Wednesday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 12-10 on the year, while the Phoenix drop to 11-9.
 
With the game tied at four all going to the home half of the sixth, the Pirates scored three runs to take a 7-4 lead. Cam Clonch doubled down the left field line with one out and scored on Ryan McCrystal's base hit to left field. Starling, who extended his hit streak to four games with a single in the second, blasted his a two-run shot to right field for what would be the game-winning hit.
 
Zach Agnos (1-0) picked up his first career win tossing 1.2 scoreless relief frames allowing one hit and striking out a career-high five batters. Carter Spivey notched his second save of the year closing out the game retiring both batters he faced in the ninth with one on and registering a strikeout. Danny Beal, who made his first collegiate start gave up two runs (both earned) on one hit with two walks and one punch out in 2.1 innings. The Pirates used six pitchers on a staff day from Beal to Agnos getting outings from Trey Yesavage (0.2 IP, 1 R, 2 Ks), Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman (0.2 IP, 1 BB), C.J. Mayhue (1.2 IP, 3 Hs, 1 R, 3 BBs), Josh Grosz (0.2 IP, 1 K), Ben Terwilliger (0.2 IP, 2 Hs, 2 Rs, 2 Ks) and Skylar Brooks (0.0 IP, 2 BBs).

Wichita State 7, Kansas 5 (10 innings) - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. – Garrett Kocis launched a walk-off, two-run homer in the bottom of the tenth, and Wichita State rallied from a 5-0 deficit to stun Kansas 7-5 on Wednesday night at Eck Stadium.

It was the first walk-off win and first extra-inning win of the season for Wichita State, who extended their winning streak against Kansas to six games.

The Shockers (10-10) clawed back with three in the sixth, one in the eighth, and one in the ninth to force extras. After two quick outs in the tenth, Jordan Rogers kept the inning alive with an infield single. Kocis then stepped to the plate against Kansas reliever Kolby Dougan (0-1) and blasted a 1-2 pitch onto the berm in right field for his second home run of the season. The five-run deficit was the largest overcome by Wichita State this season.

The Wichita State bullpen was brilliant, keeping the Jayhawks (8-11) off the board for the final six frames. Connor Holden (2-0) earned the win by retiring all seven batters he faced over 2.1 scoreless innings, extending his season-opening string of zeroes to 11.0 spotless innings. Creighton Hansen, Adam Ketelsen, and LJ McDonough also had scoreless appearances on the evening.

Tulane 7, SE Louisiana 6 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University baseball team (14-7-1) took down Southeastern Louisiana University (8-13) in a 7-6 on Wednesday evening inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

The Green Wave got out to an early lead and held on down the stretch and got just enough clutch hitting to down the Lions for the second time this season.
 
Graduate student Carter Robinson started for the Green Wave and allowed three runs, two earned, while striking out six Lions over five solid innings.

Ole Miss 11, Memphis 8 - Box Score
OXFORD, Miss. – With an early lead and fight through the final pitch, the Memphis Tigers (12-6) put up a valiant effort in an 11-8 loss to the #1 Ole Miss Rebels (16-4). Memphis led 4-1 after 1.5 frames before the Rebels scored nine times over the second and third innings. The Tigers put the tying run in the on-deck circle in each of the final two innings but were never able to get the potential tying run to the plate.