Tulane remained the only American Athletic Conference baseball team undefeated in league play after action on Friday, April 8.

Friday, April 8
Houston 5, Cincinnati 4 - Box Score
East Carolina 6, Wichita State 5 - Box Score
Memphis 6, UCF 1 - Box Score
Tulane 8, South Florida 5 - Box Score

Houston 5, Cincinnati 4 - Box Score
CINCINNATI – Houston Baseball used a four-run first inning and steady pitching to defeat Cincinnati, 5-4, in Cougars' American Athletic Conference road opener Friday night from UC Baseball Stadium.
 
Houston chased Cincinnati starter Conner Linn (2-1) after just 3.2 innings. The Cougars (21-9, 3-1 American) tagged the starter for five hits in the first inning with Alex Lopez provided a two-run home run before Ryan Hernandez and Malachi Lott added RBI-doubles.
 
The Bearcats (11-17, 1-3 American) scored twice in the first inning and added single runs in the fourth and fifth frames but could not break through, batting just .167 (2-for-12) with runners aboard and .111 (1-for-9) with runners in scoring position.
 
Houston starter Jaycob Deese worked around eight hits, allowing four runs while striking out five with two walks in 6.0 innings. Linn permitted nine hits and five runs (four earned) with one walk and six strikeouts.
 
Cougar closer Ben Sears locked up his sixth save, striking out a pair in a hitless ninth inning. Reliever Kyle LaCalameto did not allow a runner to reach in 2.0 innings with a strikeout. 

East Carolina 6, Wichita State 5 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Making his first-ever Friday night start, Ryder Giles tossed a career-high seven innings with a personal-best eight strikeouts, while his offense banged out 11 hits as East Carolina defeated Wichita State 6-5 Friday night at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the victory the Pirates improved to 17-14 on the season and 3-1 in American Athletic Conference play and the Shockers dropped to 12-17 and 1-3 in league action.
 
Leading 6-5 in the ninth with two outs, the Shockers had the potential tying run on third in Jack Sigrist and the go ahead run on second in Couper Cornblum when Trey Yesavage struck out Chuck Ingram to end the ball game. Wichita State plated three runs in the ninth getting and RBI pinch-hit single from Payton Tolle, a bases loaded pinch-hit walk by Cornblum and scored their final run of the game on a wild pitch.
 
Giles (3-0), who worked the longest outing by an ECU starter this season, earned the win allowing just one run (earned) on three hits and struck out eight without allowing a walk. Yesavage notched his second save of the year tossing a third of an inning, while Ben Terwilliger gave up one run (earned) on one hit in his lone frame and Garrett Saylor surrendered three runs (all earned) on three hits in two thirds of an inning.
 
Reigning AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week Jace Kaminska (2-3) suffered the loss after giving up five runs (all earned) on eight hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts in 4.2 innings. The Shockers would use three arms in relief in LJ McDonough (1.1 IP, 1 BB), Derek Shaver (1.0 IP, 1 H) and Foster Gilford (1.0 IP, 2 Hs, 1 R, 2 Ks).

Memphis 6, UCF 1 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With a four-run fourth inning, the Memphis Tigers (13-13, 1-3) picked up their first conference win of the season and snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the UCF Knights (18-12, 3-1). The Tigers got six strong innings from Landon Gartman (W, 4-0), while Dalton Kendrick (SV, 4) retired the final nine UCF batters of the night.
 
After Gartman got out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the second inning, UCF Connor Staine (ND) came out for his third inning warmup pitches, but departed due to injury before another official pitch.

With the game still scoreless, Wiliam Saxton (L, 3-1) relieved Staine and posted a scoreless third inning before the Tigers cracked the scoreboard first with a four-run fourth.

The first three Memphis hitters picked up hits, as LF Ian Bibiloni gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with an RBI single, while an error, a passed ball, and multiple wild pitches led to three more Memphis runs in the inning, as the Tigers led 4-0 after four frames

Tulane 8, South Florida 5 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University baseball team (21-9-1) defeated the University of South Florida (18-12) by a score of 8-5 on Friday night inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
 
The Green Wave went up 4-0 in the first inning and didn't look back holding the lead until the game went final.
 
Freshman Grant Siegel took the hill for the Green Wave and allowed four runs over six solid innings while striking out eight. The right-hander came into the game with a 1.000 ERA, the ninth-lowest in the nation.
 
Right-hander Orion Kerkering started for the Bulls and allowed five earned runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings. The lefty touted a 2.21 ERA coming into the start.

The Bulls threatened to score early putting runners on first and second with one out. USF tried a double steal, but Bennett Lee popped out of the squat and fired a strike to Brayden Morrow, snagging the runner at third for the second out of the inning. Siegel got the next hitter to fly out to right to Ethan Groff to get out of the inning. 
 
Redshirt senior Luis Aviles got the Wave going in the bottom of the first when he launched a missile down the right-field line. Freshman Brady Marget got hit to put runners on first and second. Freshman Jackson Linn placed a ball in the furthest part of right field to drive in Aviles for the first run of the game. Trevor Minder and Jared Hart would follow to collect the third and fourth RBI.