Five American Athletic Conference baseball teams picked up wins in action on Sunday, March 27.

Sunday, March 27
UCF 12, Samford 1 - Box Score
Tulane 3, Dayton 2 - Box Score
South Florida 11, Niagara 3 - Box Score
Wichita State 6, Creighton 3 - Box Score
Houston 6, Western Carolina 1 - Box Score
Indiana State 3, Memphis 1 - Box Score
VCU 5, East Carolina 2 - Box Score
Xavier 8, Cincinnati 7 - Box Score

UCF 12, Samford 1 - Box Score
ORLANDO, Fla. – UCF (14-10) scored eight runs on two hits, walked five times, and was hit by pitches four times to run-rule Samford (12-9) on Sunday afternoon at John Euliano Park. Connor Staine was limited on Sunday, but improved to 3-0 on the year, working two innings of one hit baseball. Staine punched out three batters and allowed on walk in the outing.
 
The Knights opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, as Noah Orlando hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot to right field. Samford responded in the fourth, tying the ballgame at one a side.
 
Alex Freeland continued to stay hot this weekend, flying out to right field to score Pablo Ruiz from third, giving the Knights a 2-1 lead. In the sixth, UCF continued to widen the gap, as Ryan Taylor singled to the pitcher to score Andrew Sundean from third to extend the lead to 3-1.
 
In the eighth, UCF scored eight runs on a series of bases loaded walks and hit by pitches. Orlando mixed in an infield single to score Rushing and Sundean singled to left field to score Freeland from third to run rule the Bulldogs on Sunday and salvage the series finale.
 
Chase Centala worked two innings against the Bulldogs, allowing one run on two hits and fanning a pair. Cameron Crain and Ruddy Gomez combined for three innings of scoreless baseball, allowing two hits. 

Tulane 3, Dayton 2 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University baseball team (16-8-1) took the series from the University of Dayton (9-11) with a 3-2 walk-off win on Sunday afternoon inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
 
Tulane were poised to cruise to a 2-0 win, but the Flyers tied the game in the top of the ninth. The Green Wave were unfazed and immediately answered in the bottom of the ninth to take the game and the series. 
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Bennett Lee walked, and Jacob LaPrairie singled the Tulane catcher to third before Simon Baumgardt lined a ball down the right field line to send the Wave home a winner.
 
Michael Massey had one of the most dominant starts of the year by a Tulane pitcher to help propel the Wave to victory. Massey, a freshman, got his fifth start for the Wave and pitched a 7.2 innings gem. Massey struck out six and allowed just three hits. The outing was the longest by any Tulane pitcher this season.

South Florida 11, Niagara 3 - Box Score
TAMPA (March 27, 2022) – The University of South Florida Bulls (17-7) have won five straight games and logged their fifth consecutive series win on Sunday afternoon after sweeping Niagara University (2-18) with an 11-3 victory at USF Baseball Stadium.

South Florida has won 10 of its last 12 games overall and is averaging nearly nine runs per game offensively in that span. The Bulls will enter conference play next weekend with the most runs scored (179), most home runs (34) and best OBP (.414) among its AAC foes.

Carmine Lane leads the league in hits (37) and RBI (33), and Drew Brutcher has the most home runs (9). Brutcher (.504) and Daniel Cantu (.455) rank second and third, respectively, in OBP.

Cantu (Lakeland) blasted his third home run of the season in Sunday's series finale against Niagara in the fifth inning to make it an 8-0 ballgame before the Purple Eagles got on the board with a pair of runs in the seventh and logged more in the ninth, but it was all USF for the duration of the day.

The Bulls scored first and led wire-to-wire in all three games of the series with Matt Ruiz giving the home team an early 1-0 lead in the opening frame on a sacrifice fly Sunday.

On the mound, Brad Lord made his first start since March 12th and breezed through the Niagara batting order. The right-hander allowed just one hit and struck out six batters over 4.0 IP.

Wichita State 6, Creighton 3 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. – Cameron Bye delivered a career-best start and Wichita State stole a season-best five bases to salvage the series finale against Creighton by the score of 6-3.

Bye's previous career-long outing was 3.1 innings, but the sophomore righty pitched into the seventh to secure his second win of the season. He finished the day with 6.0 innings of work, allowing just four singles and one unearned run while striking out six and walking two. For the season, Bye has now gone 21.2. innings without allowing an earned run, surrendering just nine hits in the process.

Wichita State (11-12) supported Bye with an early barrage against Creighton starter Cade Lommel (0-3). In the bottom of the first, Sawyre Thornhill rapped a hard ground ball through the legs of Creighton first baseman Sterling Hayes to score Andrew Stewart, who led off the inning with a single. Three more runs would cross in the bottom of the third, all with two outs. Ross Cadena lined a two-run single into left, and Couper Cornblum plated a run with a single of his own to make it 4-0 in favor of Wichita State.

Chuck Ingram provided a run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth, and Garrett Kocis followed with an RBI groundout to give the Shockers a commanding 6-0 advantage.

Houston 6, Western Carolina 1 - Box Score
HOUSTON – Houston Baseball rode a pair of big hits from Ryan Hernandez and a strong start from Kyle LaCalameto to a series-clinching 6-1 win in the three-game series finale Sunday afternoon from Sanders Field at Schroeder Park.
 
The series win, coming on the final weekend of non-conference play, was the Cougars' fourth in the last five weekends. After producing just four hits in Saturday's loss, Houston totaled 11 Sunday, marking the seventh double-digit tally in the last eight contests.
 
All nine Houston (16-8) starters notched at least one hit. Offensively, the Cougars struck out a season-low two times (previous: 3, at Sam Houston) against Western Carolina (11-13) pitching. The victory was Houston's 11th at home, matching its entire 2021 total. 
 
Making his fourth start, LaCalameto (2-0) turned in another strong performance. The junior southpaw scattered six hits, allowing one run across a career-high 6.0 innings while lowering his ERA to 3.22. The Cincinnati native fanned seven batters and held the Catamounts to 2-for-10 (.200) with runners aboard.
 
Hernandez delivered a first-inning RBI-double and clubbed his second home run of the week courtesy of a 367-foot solo shot in the sixth. It marked his first multi-RBI performance since driving in five runs on March 6 against Incarnate Word.

Indiana State 3, Memphis 1 - Box Score
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The bitter cold that felt more like winter than the last weekend in March kept the bats of the Memphis Tigers (12-8) cold for a second straight game. A day after the middle game of the three-game series vs. the Indiana State Sycamores (13-7) was canceled due to frigid temperatures, Memphis had just two hits and fell 3-1 as the Tigers were swept in the abridged two-game series.

The Tigers struck first, as they loaded the bases with two outs against Ridgway and Jack Parisi, while and Ben Brooks picked up an RBI on a bases loaded walk, which put Memphis in front 1-0. Fowler pitched to two batters in the sixth and left for Blake Wimberley (1-2) with a runner on first base and one out. Sean Ross connected with a two-out RBI double off of Wimberley that tied the game 1-1.

The first two Sycamores to bat in the sixth singled off of Wimberley, and despite a highlight reel catch by Zach Wilson to steal a hit away from Jordan Shaffer, the go-ahead run scored on the sacrifice fly, as Indiana State led 2-1 after seven innings Indiana State added an insurance run in the eighth on a two-out RBI single by Grant Magill, which made it 3-1 in favor of the Sycamores, the eventual final

The Tigers got the tying run to the plate in the ninth after a one-out walk drawn by Jacob Compton, but Joey Hurth (3-1) retired the next two Memphis hitters and closed out the win

VCU 5, East Carolina 2 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – VCU scored five runs over the final three innings to salvage a game in the weekend series defeating East Carolina 5-2 Sunday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Rams improve to 12-10 while the Pirates dropped to 14-11.
 
Trailing 2-1 going to the eighth inning, VCU pushed across three runs taking its first lead of the weekend at 4-2. Michael Haydak drew a leadoff walk and scored on Tyler Locklear's double down the left field line. Logan Amiss followed with a single to left and took second on an error. Three batters later, Cooper Benzin plated the would-be game-winning run with a shot back up the middle.
 
Jaden Griffin (3-1) earned the win for the Rams in relief tossing 1.2 scoreless frames with a pair of walks. Edwin Serrano notched his third save of the year with two scoreless innings where he allowed two hits, walked a pair and struck out one. Starter Tyler Davis gave up two runs (both earned) on three hits with three punch outs in 5.1 innings.
 
Garrett Saylor (2-3) took the loss surrendering three runs (two earned) on two hits with a pair of punch outs in one-plus inning of relief. Starter Josh Grosz tossed a career-best six innings giving up one runs (earned) on three this with two walks and four strikeouts. ECU also got outings from C.J. Mayhue (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K), Zach Agnos (0.2 IP, 1 R, 2 BBs, 1 K) and Carter Spivey (0.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K).

Xavier 8, Cincinnati 7 - Box Score
CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati got contributions from every part of their lineup, as all nine starters reached base safely, but the Bearcats fell to the Xavier Musketeers, 8-7, Sunday.

Redshirt sophomore pitcher Alex Shea (0-3) took the loss on the mound for Cincinnati (9-12). Redshirt junior Jackson Murphy was a bright spot out of the bullpen, going one shutout inning without allowing a hit, walking none and striking out one.

Redshirt junior Paul Komistek led the way offensively for the Bearcats, going 2-for-4 in the ballgame with a triple, a walk and two RBIs. Freshman catcher Boston Smith put together a standout day at the dish as well, going 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. Sophomore outfielder Cole Harting also chipped in, going 2-for-4 for Cincinnati with a triple and a walk.