Four American Athletic Conference baseball teams picked up wins on Saturday, March 18 to clinch series victories.

Saturday, March 18
South Florida 5, Army 3 - Box Score
UCF 12, Dartmouth 10 - Box Score
Houston 4, Minnesota 2 (10 innings) - Box Score
East Carolina 4, Missouri State 3 - Box Score
Tulane 5, Columbia 2 - Box Score
Princeton 7, Cincinnati 5 - Box Score
Creighton 13, Wichita State 6 (14 innings) - Box Score
Southeastern Louisiana 6, Memphis 1 - Box Score
Princeton 3, Cincinnati 2 - Box Score

South Florida 5, Army 3 - Box Score
TAMPA (March 18, 2023) – The University of South Florida Bulls (8-12) tallied their second straight comeback win over the Army Black Knights (6-10) on Saturday afternoon at USF Baseball Stadium, 5-3. South Florida has won three straight games overall, and four of its last five.

First pitch was moved up to 10 a.m. on Saturday due to the threat of afternoon storms and the game was played in a tidy hour and 48 minutes.

John Montes belted a go-ahead three-run homer for the Bulls in the fifth inning, approximately 13 hours after hitting a walk-off home run in the series opener on Friday night.

The Black Knights scratched the plate for a run off Hunter Mink in the bottom of the first inning and built a 3-0 lead on a two-run homer in the third frame.

H. Mink (3-2) did not allow a hit and only one base runner for the remainder of his outing. The right-hander turned in his second quality start of the season in the win and allowed three runs on just three hits with a career-high eight strikeouts over 6.0 IP.

UCF 12, Dartmouth 10 - Box Score
ORLANDO -- UCF used a 9-run eighth inning to come from behind and defeat Dartmouth, 12-10, Saturday at John Euliano Park.

Down 9-3 going into the bottom of the eighth, UCF (14-5) sent 12 batters to the plate and cut into the Dartmouth (1-10) lead with four RBI singles and took the lead on a grand slam by Andrew Brait.

Cameron Crain (1-0) earned the win, striking out two batters to end the top of the eighth, while Kyle Kramer came on in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

Houston 4, Minnesota 2 (10 innings) - Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Behind a Justin Murray two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning, Houston Baseball overcame Minnesota 4-2 in 10 innings Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium to earn the series victory.
 
Junior reliever Owen Woodward (1-0) worked 1.1 innings for the Cougars (7-11) striking out three of the four batters he faced to earn his first win of the season. Cougar starting pitcher Paul Schmitz threw 6.2 innings, striking out seven while allowing only two runs for his first quality start of the season. Reliever Cam Blazek (1-1) took the loss for Minnesota (3-17) after allowing two runs on three hits in 1.0 inning.

Houston's pitching staff stranded five Minnesota runners while also keeping Golden Gopher batters to a .182 batting average (2 for 11) with runners on.

Houston clubbed three-straight doubles into left field in the top of the 10th inning for a 4-2 lead.

East Carolina 4, Missouri State 3 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Down one heading into the bottom of the ninth, No. 10 East Carolina put together a stirring rally and utilized a Jacob Starling RBI single with the bases loaded to defeat Missouri State 4-3 and clinch a big non-conference series at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
 
The Pirates (15-4) registered their first walkoff win since last year's regular season finale while the Bears (11-7) lost their first series since opening weekend.
 
ECU notched nine of their 11 hits in the fifth inning or later and held Missouri State to just one run on two hits in the final four frames.
 
Starling, Lane Hoover and Alec Makarewicz all recorded two hits each while Starling drove in a pair of runs. In all nine Pirate hitters finished with a base hit apiece. Nick Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the visitors.
 
Carter Spivey put together a strong start, allowing just two earned runs on four hits with two walks and a career-high nine strikeouts in five innings of work. Jake Hunter (1-1) collected his first victory of the season as he yielded just one hit and struck out three in the final 2.2 frames. Trey Ziegenbein (0-2) was saddled with the loss, surrendering two runs on four hits with four strikeouts in 2.0 innings.

Tulane 5, Columbia 2 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – Tulane pitchers Chandler Welch and reliever Michael Lombardi turned in an outstanding effort on the mound as the host Green Wave defeated visiting Columbia 5-2 Saturday evening on Greer Field inside Turchin Stadium.
 
The win improved Tulane's record to 4-15 overall and evened the series between the two teams. Columbia now sits at 6-7 overall.
 
Welch (2-1) went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Lombardi finished the contest superbly and picked up his second save, yielding just one hit, while fanning seven batters.
 
Columbia starter Joe Sheets (1-1) suffered the defeat but all four runs he allowed were unearned as the Lions committed four errors on the evening. 
 
Seven different Tulane players reached base through the benefit of a hit, with second baseman Chase Engelhard going 2-for-4. 

Princeton 7, Cincinnati 5 - Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The University of Cincinnati baseball team fell to Princeton, 7-5, on Saturday morning at Harley Park in Spartanburg, S.C.
 
The game was postponed on Friday due to rain and resumed Saturday morning in the bottom of the fourth with Princeton leading 5-1. Cincinnati rallied with two runs in the ninth before falling 7-5 in the first of two meetings with the Tigers.
 
The Bearcats were led by redshirt junior Ryan Nicholson, who went 3-for-4 with a career-high two doubles, two RBI and a walk.
 
Sophomore Kerrington Cross furnished a noteworthy performance at the dish as well, going 1-for-2 with his third home run of the season. Sophomore Lauden Brooks put together two hits in five trips to the plate while adding an RBI.
 
Freshman Chase Horst (1-2) started and took the loss on the mound for Cincinnati. Sophomore pitcher Tommy O'Connor was a bright spot out of the bullpen, going 2.1 shutout innings while allowing two hits, walking two and striking out three.

Creighton 13, Wichita State 6 (14 innings) - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. -- Creighton scored eight runs in the top of the 14th inning to break a 5-5 tie, knocking off Wichita State 13-6 in a game took more than five hours to complete.

It was an afternoon of missed opportunities for the Shockers, who battled back with four runs in the eighth and ninth innings to force extras. But the Shockers (9-8) left the winning run in scoring position for five consecutive frames from the ninth through the 13th, including two instances in which WSU stranded the bases loaded. Creighton (7-6) made a pair of excellent defensive plays to keep the game going, as Jack Grace made a diving stop to rob Brock Rodden of a potential walk-off hit in the 12th, and Tate Gillen tracked down Alex Birge's sinking line drive in left to end the 13th.

Marc Lidd (1-0) picked up the win for Creighton with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, while Carter Rost (0-1) took the loss for Wichita State, allowing six of the eight runs that crossed for Creighton in the top of the 14th.

The Shockers used 10 pitchers on the day, combining for 20 strikeouts to match the second-most in a single game in program history. Clark Candiotti struck out eight over 5.1 innings in a no-decision as the Wichita State starter, and Matt Wilkinson, Michael Mulhollon, Nate Snead and Parker Dillhoff kept the game scoreless in extra innings.

Wichita State trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the eighth, but rallied twice against the Creighton bullpen. Payton Tolle bounced a two-run single into right that trimmed the deficit to 4-3, and Mauricio Millan followed with an run-scoring single of his own to level the score at 4-4.

The game remained tied at 5-5 into the 14th, when Creighton broke out for eight runs, highlighted by a three-run double from Hogan Helligso. Wichita State pulled one back in the bottom half on Jaden Gustafson's sacrifice fly, but Malakai Vetock recorded the final out to secure the win for Creighton.

Southeastern Louisiana 6, Memphis 1 - Box Score
HAMMOND, La. – The University of Memphis baseball team dropped game two of its series with Southeastern Louisiana, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field. SLU evened the series with the Tigers at one game apiece after Memphis won game one, 4-3, Friday night.
 
With the setback, Memphis moves to 10-9 on the season. The Lions improved to 12-7 on the season with the victory.

Memphis got its lone run of the contest on a Logan Kohler RBI single into center field that scored Brayland Skinner from second after he led off the inning with a double to left field. Skinner was originally called out on a close play at the plate, but upon further review, he was called safe.
 
Left-handed pitcher Dalton Fowler (1-3) made his fifth start of the year, lasting 4.1 innings and allowing five earned runs. He struck out five Lions and allowed two walks.

Princeton 3, Cincinnati 2 - Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The University of Cincinnati baseball team ended its road trip with a 3-2 loss to Princeton on Saturday night at Harley Park in Spartanburg, S.C.
 
The Bearcats (8-12) scored two runs on six hits and left six runners on base, while the Tigers scored three runs on eight hits and stranded seven baserunners.

Redshirt junior starter Chase Hopewell surrendered just one run on four hits and struck out a season-high six batters over six innings. Redshirt junior Alex Shea (2-1) took the loss for the Bearcats in 1.1 innings of relief work. 

Redshirt junior catcher Alec Jones went 2-for-4 with two RBI while junior Josh Hegemann finished 2-for-2 with a run scored, a walk and a stolen base.