American Athletic Conference baseball squads went 6-1 in action on Sunday, March 19.

Sunday, March 19
Houston 5, Minnesota 2 - Box Score
East Carolina 10, Missouri State 1 - Box Score
UCF 5, Dartmouth 2 - Box Score
Wichita State 12, Creighton (7 innings) - Box Score
Memphis 8, Southeastern Louisiana 2 - Box Score
Tulane 6, Columbia 3 - Box Score
Army 6, South Florida 1 - Box Score

Houston 5, Minnesota 2 - Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Houston Baseball earned the series sweep against Minnesota taking the final game 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.
 
Junior reliever Brendan O'Donnell (1-0) earned his first win for the Cougars (8-11), pitching 1.0 inning with no hits and one strikeout. Junior utility player Justin Murray recorded his first save of the season, striking out the side in a perfect frame. Minnesota's (3-18) Richie Holtz (0-2) struck out seven batters but allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits with a pair of walks.

Houston's pitching staff stranded five Minnesota runners while Cougar batters nabbed a .364 (4-for-11) batting average with two outs. The Golden Gophers were held to a .222 average (2-for-9) with two away and did not register a hit with runners in scoring position (0-for-5).

East Carolina 10, Missouri State 1 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 10 East Carolina extended its winning streak to four Sunday, completing a series sweep of Missouri State by a 10-1 score at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
 
The Pirates (16-4) were sharp in all facets of the game, rapping out 13 hits while once again quieting a powerful Bears (11-8) offense to the tune of one run and four hits. Missouri State also committed two errors in the contest to ECU's none.
 
Josh Grosz (3-0) was outstanding in the circle, producing a quality start of a career-high 7.1 scoreless innings. He finished with five strikeouts and scattered a trio of hits. Tyler Tscherter (3-1) suffered his first loss of the campaign, surrendering two runs on six hits and a walk in four innings of work.
 
Offensively, Josh Moylan notched his second career four-hit effort to go along with two runs scored and four RBI. Lane Hoover also enjoyed a productive outing, tallying a pair of hits and driving in two runs. Dylan Robertson collected three hits and a pair of doubles for the visitors.

UCF 5, Dartmouth 2 - Box Score
ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team closed out the series against Dartmouth with a sweep Sunday, defeating the Big Green 5-2. The Knights held Dartmouth to just five hits and continued their offensive production from the previous contests to extend their win streak to five games.

The Big Green got on the board early, getting two runs on two hits and two walks in the top of the first. The Knights answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by a two-RBI single from Andrew Sundean that scored Andrew Brait and Tom Josten, who were on base from a single and a walk respectively. A sacrifice fly from Drew Faurot brought in Ben McCabe, putting UCF up 3-2 after one.

Cameron Leiter wrapped up his two-inning appearance with a scoreless top half of the second inning, yielding only one hit. The UCF offense continued to show up through the second, with another RBI single from Sundean to drive in Josten. The RBI marked the 18th of the season for the sophomore, as well as his sixth-straight game with a hit.

Both of Dartmouth's runs were contained in the first inning, as the UCF defense shut the Big Green down through the remaining eight. Huge defensive plays including an over the shoulder catch from Lex Boedicker in the first, a diving stop by Faurot, and a catch into the Big Green dugout from McCabe gave the pitching staff the assistance they needed to hold the Big Green to two runs. The pitching staff was also dominant, with a combined 10 strikeouts and surrendering only five hits.

Dom Stagliano threw 5.0 innings for the Knights, topping off his performance from earlier this week. After starting last Tuesday, the sophomore had a highly efficient outing in relief, going five innings with five strikeouts, throwing just 50 pitches and allowing two hits. Dominic Castellano and Kyle Kramer each pitched an inning, surrendering zero hits and earning two strikeouts each. Kramer earned his fifth save of the season and the 11th of his career, he now sits at 9th most all-time in UCF history.

Wichita State 12, Creighton (7 innings) - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. -- Payton Tolle set a new career high with 12 strikeouts and added three more hits at the plate, powering Wichita State to a 12-2 win over Creighton on Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium. The contest was called in the bottom of the seventh due to run-rule.

Tolle (4-0) survived a bumpy first inning to put together one of the best starts of his young collegiate career. Creighton (7-7) scored two runs in the first inning on four consecutive two-out hits, but managed just one more single over the final six frames against Tolle, who matched his career best with seven innings of work. The southpaw retired 16 of the last 17 men that he faced, striking out the side in both the sixth and seventh innings to put the finishing touches on his complete-game victory.

The Wichita State offense was relentless, scoring in five of seven opportunities against a parade of Creighton pitchers. Tolle got the scoring started with a first inning sacrifice fly that cut Creighton's early lead in half, then the Shockers (10-8) moved in front for good with a three-run bottom of the second. Chuck Ingram continued his offensive tear with an RBI double, and Brock Rodden put WSU on top by banging a two-run double off the wall in left for a 4-2 advantage.

All of the runs were charged to Creighton starter Justin Kleinsorge (1-1), who lasted just 1.2 innings for the Bluejays.

Mauricio Millan and Jaden Gustafson made it 6-2 Shockers in the third with run-scoring singles, then the Shockers put the game out of reach with a four-run bottom of the fourth. David Herring plated two with a booming double to right, coming in to score one batter later on a Tolle RBI single. A wild pitch later in the inning scored Tolle, making it 10-2 in favor of the Shockers.

Memphis 8, Southeastern Louisiana 2 - Box Score
HAMMOND, La. – The University of Memphis baseball team won Sunday's rubber match with Southeastern Louisiana, 8-2, at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field to clinch the series win two games to one. Freshman starting pitcher Seth Garner earned the first win of his collegiate career, going 6.2 innings, allowing six hits and just one earned run while striking out four and walking none.
 
With the win, Memphis improved to 11-9 on the season. The Lions dropped to 12-8 on the season with the loss.

Memphis exploded for four runs in the eighth inning. Cameron Benson tucked a double just inside the first-base bag to set the stage before Jonah Sutton scored on a wild pitch from third base for the first run of the inning. An Austin Baskin RBI single brought in Benson for the second run, then Logan Kohler singled through the right side to plate Baskin and Anthony Hansen to make the score 8-2.

Dalton Kendrick pitched a one-two-three inning for the Tigers in the bottom of the eighth and slammed the door in the ninth to earn his second save of the weekend and sixth of the season (leads AAC).

Tulane 6, Columbia 3 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane bullpen held visiting Columbia scoreless with just four hits and two walks over the game's final four innings to nail down a 6-3 win Sunday on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The triumph gave the Olive and Blue the series victory.
 
Tulane improved to 5-15 overall, while the Lions returned home with a 6-9 mark.
 
The Green Wave's Brian Valigosky (1-0) picked up the win in relief, tossing two innings and allowing three hits and a walk with one strikeout. Hard-throwing Cristian Sanchez worked the ninth for his first save and gave up a hit, while striking out one.
 
The Lions' Brandon Madrigal (0-1) suffered the loss, as he allowed a run and a walk on three hits in two frames. In total, Columbia's pitchers struggled with command for most of the day as they issued 11 walks and hit two batters.
 
TU center fielder Brady Hebert went 2-for-2 at the dish and drove in three runs. Left fielder Jacob LaPrairie also went 2-for-2 and second baseman Chase Engelhard scored twice.

Army 6, South Florida 1 - Box Score
TAMPA (March 19, 2023) – The University of South Florida Bulls (8-13) fell to the Army Black Knights (7-10) in the finale of a three-game weekend series at USF Baseball Stadium, 6-1. The setback snapped South Florida's three-game winning streak.

Jack Cebert turned in his second straight quality start and struck out a career-high eight batters. Cebert was charged with the loss despite allowing zero earned runs and issuing just one walk over 6.0 IP.

The Bulls committed a season-high four errors in Sunday's setback which led to four unearned runs crossing the plate.