South Florida, Tulane and Wichita State all evened up their respective series, while East Carolina earned a series win in American Athletic Conference baseball action on Saturday, May 7.

Saturday, May 7
South Florida 2, UCF 1 - Box Score
Tulane 4, Cincinnati 3 - Box Score
East Carolina 8, Memphis 4 - Box Score
Wichita State 12, Houston 4 - Box Score

South Florida 2, UCF 1 - Box Score
TAMPA (May 7, 2022) – The American Athletic Conference leader in hits and RBI, Carmine Lane, homered and drove in both runs for the University of South Florida (24-22, 5-12 American) on Saturday afternoon in a 2-1 triumph over rival UCF (28-18, 11-6) in the second game of a War On I-4 weekend series.

Lane delivered his ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning to stake South Florida to a 1-0 lead and padded the advantage with a run-scoring single in the fifth frame as the Bulls evened up the weekend set with UCF. Lane's 68 hits and 50 RBI each lead the league this season.

The Bulls got a strong starting pitching performance from Ethan Brown, but his start was cut short as lightning in the area forced an hour and 10-minute delay in the middle of the third frame. Brown struck out two and allowed two hits over 3.0 IP.

When play resumed, Hunter Mink took over on the hill and turned in four innings of relief. Mink scattered four hits and allowed one run while striking out two batters over 4.0 IP for his third win of the season.

Orion Kerkering returned to dominant form in his closer role and nailed down his second save of the year. Kerkering allowed just one hit and struck out four over 2.0 IP.

Tulane 4, Cincinnati 3 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University baseball team (29-18-1;10-7) defeated the University of Cincinnati (18-25;8-9) in a 4-3 ballgame on Saturday afternoon inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
 
The Green Wave hit two home runs and only needed two pitchers to down the Bearcats potent offense and even the series.
 
Freshman Grant Siegel made his eighth start of the year for the Wave and tossed six innings of two-run ball. Siegel recorded two strikeouts and no walks. 
 
Sophomore Conner Linn started for the Bearcats and gave up four earned runs on six hits in 4.1 innings of work. 
 
In the top of the second, Cincinnati's Griffin Merritt led off with a double before getting moved to third on a groundout. Siegel was able to strand Merritt, coaxing a pop out and a flyout from the next two Bearcat hitters to preserve the 0-0 deadlock.
 
Freshman Jackson Linn led off the bottom of the second with his sixth home run of the year, a solo shot. Linn turned around a fastball that went 424 feet off the net in left-center. The ball left Linn's bat at 113 mph, the second-hardest hit ball of the year by a Tulane hitter.

East Carolina 8, Memphis 4 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Alec Makarewicz and Bryson Worrell each drove in a pair of runs helping East Carolina to an 8-5 American Athletic Conference series clinching win over Memphis Saturday afternoon at FedEx Park. With the win, the Pirates improved to 29-18 overall and 13-4 in league play while the Tigers fell to 21-23 and 5-12.
 
Trey Yesavage (1-0) earned his first collegiate win allowing one run (earned) on one hit with a walk and three strikeouts in 1.1. relief frames. Ben Terwilliger notched his first save at ECU tossing a scoreless ninth with a pair of strikeouts extending the Pirates lead in The American to two games over Houston and UCF. Starter Ryder Giles surrendered one runs (unearned) on five hits with a walk over three-plus innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Garrett Saylor (2.0 IP, 3 Hs, 2 Rs, 3 Ks) and Zach Agnos (1.2 IP, 2 Hs, 1 R) also saw action in relief.
 
Dalton Fowler (2-3) suffered the loss after giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits with five walks and two strikeouts in five innings. Blake Wimberley yielded three runs (all unearned) on four hits with a punch out in two innings, while Chase Kessinger gave up one run (earned) on two hits with a pair of punch outs in two frames.

Wichita State 12, Houston 4 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State hit a season-high four home runs, including two from Brock Rodden, and got a brilliant relief appearance from Caden Favors to rock Houston 12-4 on Saturday afternoon at Eck Stadium.

The Shockers (16-31) trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the third inning after the Cougars got a pair of two-out RBI singles from Zach Arnold and Anthony Tulimero. The Wichita State bats then roared to life, scoring in five of the final six innings, beginning with a pair of runs in the home half of the third. Chuck Ingram ripped an RBI single to score Couper Cornblum, who had doubled, and later in the inning Jordan Rogers dumped an RBI single into shallow right to score Ingram, tying the game at 2-2. 

After Houston (31-16) retook the lead with two more runs in the top of the fourth, the Shockers roared back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Ingram had the big blow in the inning, a mammoth three-run home run to left field that traveled a Trackman-confirmed 420 feet. On the next pitch, Brock Rodden lined a solo shot over the wall in left; the back-to-back blasts gave Wichita State a 6-4 lead heading to the fifth.

That's where Favors (1-1) took over. The sophomore left-hander twirled a career-best 4.1 scoreless innings, matching his career high with five strikeouts while allowing only three hits. The Cougars got just one runner to third base against Favors, who picked up his first Wichita State win with the performance.

The Shockers offense continued the bombardment in the sixth when Rodden slammed an opposite-field, two-run homer off reliever Jackson Dannelley. Rodden became the first Shocker with a multi-homer game in 2022, and the first WSU player to homer from both sides of the plate since Casey Gillaspie accomplished the feat on May 3, 2014.