Cincinnati, East Carolina and Wichita State all picked up series wins in American Athletic Conference baseball action on Saturday, April 29.

Saturday, April 29
East Carolina 11, Tulane 10 (continued from Friday) - Box Score
Tulane 8, East Carolina 0 (Game 2) - Box Score
East Carolina 8, Tulane 6 (Game 3) - Box Score
UCF 8, Houston 7 - Box Score
Cincinnati 11, South Florida 9 - Box Score
Wichita State 8, Memphis 1 - Box Score

East Carolina 11, Tulane 10 (continued from Friday) - Box Score
Tulane 8, East Carolina 0 (Game 2) - Box Score
East Carolina 8, Tulane 6 (Game 3) - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – On a rare day that saw three games between No. 12 East Carolina and Tulane decided at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium, the Pirates rallied for an 11-10 victory in the series opener that was suspended from Friday but completed Saturday before splitting a doubleheader to win their third American Athletic Conference set of the season.
 
The Green Wave (13-31, 6-9 American) took an 8-0 victory in Saturday's first full game before ECU (31-13, 9-6) responded with an 8-6 win in the nightcap.
 
Game 1: East Carolina 11, Tulane 10
The Green Wave led 9-6 in the top of the seventh inning Friday before lightning and rain forced the game to be suspended until Saturday afternoon. At the resumption, ECU scored five runs in the eighth and ninth frames to capture the come-for-behind win.
 
Winning Pitcher: Landon Ginn (3-0) | 3.0 IP, 1R, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K
Losing Pitcher: Chandler Welch (2-5) | 0.0 IP, 2R, 2ER, 2H
 
Jacob Starling and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart both rapped out a team-high three hits while Jenkins-Cowart finished with four RBI. Teo Banks notched three hits of his own and five RBI to pace the Tulane offense.
 
Dylan Carmouche struggled in the bottom of the first inning as he issued four walks while allowing a Jenkins-Cowart sac fly and Joey Berini RBI single to find himself trailing 3-0. A pair of RBI groundouts in the top of the second drew the Green Wave within one, but Jenkins-Cowart restored the Pirates' two-run lead with an RBI single in the home half of the frame.
 
Tulane began to use the long ball to seize control of the contest, propelling itself ahead 8-4 with six unanswered runs (including three home runs) before a Moylan RBI single made it 8-5 and Starling scored on a wild pitch to reduce the Green Wave lead to 8-6 in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Jake LaPrarie extended the Green Wave edge to 9-6 in the top of the seventh via an RBI double before Mother Nature made an appearance and forced the suspension of the game with no outs and runners at second and third. When the contest resumed, Banks hit a solo home run – his third of the contest – to give Tulane a 10-6 advantage.
 
Lane Hoover sparked a Pirate rally in the bottom of the eighth by drawing a leadoff walk and Starling followed with a single. A wild pitch moved the runners into scoring position for Jenkins-Cowart who sent a first pitch single up the middle to plate both Hoover and Starling to draw the Purple and Gold within a pair once more.
 
East Carolina completed the comeback with a three spot in the bottom of the ninth as Luke Nowak, Carter Cunningham and Cam Clonch all singled to begin the inning. Clonch's base knock would score Nowak to make it a one-run affair before pinch runner Nathan Chrismon stole second to put two in scoring position once more. Hoover provided the knockout blow with a two-run single as the Pirates had to wait out a review to confirm the winning run scored on a close play at the plate. Chrismon was deemed to have touched the dish before Seth Beckstead applied the tag, clinching ECU's third walkoff win of the season.
 
Game 2: Tulane 8, East Carolina 0
A Ricky Castro complete-game shutout allowed the visitors to win game one of the scheduled doubleheader and even up the series.
 
Winning Pitcher: Ricky Castro (3-5) | 9.0 IP, 0R, 3H, 2BB, 5K
Losing Pitcher: Josh Grosz (4-2) | 3.2 IP, 5R, 5ER, 5H, 2BB, 4K
 
Brady Marget was the offensive hero for the Green Wave, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored, while Simon Baumgardt and Brennan Lambert each drove in three runs. Starling, Berini and Ryley Johnson all picked up a hit for the Pirates.
 
Lambert got the scoring going in the top of the first with a three-run homer that set the tone for the contest. Castro did not allow a runner until walking Josh Moylan in the bottom of the fourth and did not yield a hit until Starling's two-out single in the sixth. Johnson's double in the bottom of the eighth presented ECU's best chance to score, but Castro was able to hold the home team off the scoreboard.
 
Game 3: East Carolina 8, Tulane 6
The Pirates fell behind on a couple of occasions in the nightcap, but a big six-run frame propelled East Carolina to the series-clinching win.
 
Winning Pitcher: Jake Hunter (3-1) | 3.2 IP, 3R, 2ER, 3H, 1BB, 5K
Losing Pitcher: Cristian Sanchez (0-5) | 0.1 IP, 3R, 3ER, 3H
Save: Danny Beal (3) | 0.1 IP, 1K
 
Starling went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI while Marget enjoyed another solid effort, finishing with two hits and three RBI.
 
In what turned out to be a bit of a pitcher's duel, the teams traded single runs to forge a 2-2 deadlock through five frames. Baumgardt afforded Tulane its final lead of the game with a leadoff solo home run in the top of the sixth, but ECU would answer in a big way in the home half.
 
Justin Wilcoxen began the half inning with a walk and moved to second on a Cunningham sac bunt. Then, with two outs, Nowak singled to right field to knot the score and stole second before crossing home on a Hoover RBI single that put the Pirates ahead for good. Starling kept things moving with an RBI single of his own to give East Carolina some breathing room at 5-3 and Moylan unloaded on a 1-1 offering, drilling it over the wall in dead center to push the Pirates ahead by four. Jenkins-Cowart put the exclamation point on the frame with a majestic solo shot to right center that left ECU up 8-3.
 
The Green Wave tried to make things interesting in the final few innings but ran out of steam as the visitors could only pull within two the rest of the way.

UCF 8, Houston 7 - Box Score
ORLANDO ­– The UCF baseball team rallied from an early four-run deficit to even the series against the Houston Cougars with an 8-7 victory Saturday afternoon at John Euliano Park.

The Cougars (24-19, 9-5 American) took an early lead for the second game in a row, getting four runs across in the first inning.

The Knights (24-18, 6-8) answered, plating four in the next two innings to even the score. Andrew Brait added two RBI to his total for the weekend, after driving in four of UCF's seven runs on Friday. Following a Nick Romano double and a four-pitch walk by Lex Boedicker, Brait belted a double to right-center field on the first pitch to score Romano and Boedicker from second and first, respectively.

Tom Josten took a 2-2 pitch deep to center field for his 30th career home run to take sole possession of eighth place in all-time home runs at UCF. After ripping a double to left field, Drew Faurot scored on an error to tie the game at 4-4 after three innings.

Trading runs in the next three frames, Houston took a 7-5 lead. UCF added its fifth run as Andrew Sundean ripped a first-pitch single down the left-field line to score Brait.

The Knights took the final lead of the game and their first of the series in a three-run seventh inning. Boedicker became the fifth Knight to reach 10 home runs on the season, as he sent a go-ahead two-run shot to left field. John Rhys Plumlee drew a full-count walk and stole second base to get into scoring position. After drawing a walk in his previous at-bat, Matt Cedarburg recorded his first hit of the day on an RBI single to drive in the final run of the contest.

Najer Victor made his fourth appearance in the last two weekends, going back-to-back days for the first time. On Friday, Victor pitched two shutout innings with four strikeouts and today he closed the game, getting the final two outs on seven pitches to earn his first career save.

Cincinnati 11, South Florida 9 - Box Score
TAMPA, FIa. – The University of Cincinnati baseball team clinched the series win over South Florida with a 11-9 victory on Saturday afternoon in Tampa, Fla.
 
Cincinnati (19-24, 7-7 American) clinched its third American Athletic Conference weekend series of the season. The Bearcats fell to 17-27 overall and 6-8 in league play.
 
UC notched 11 of its season-high 17 hits in the sixth inning or later. Cincinnati finished with double figures in the hit column for the 11th time in the season.
 
Redshirt junior starter Chase Hopewell eclipsed 100 career strikeouts while picking up his second win of the season. He allowed three runs on four hits and struck out five batters with two walks in five innings. 
 
The Bearcats' offense generated five extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs. Freshman Griffin Hugus and junior Josh Hegemann led the Bearcats with three hits apiece. Ryan Nicholson, Tommy O'Connor and Kameron Guidry all recorded two hits each while Nicholson drove in two runs. 
 
Redshirt junior Alec Jones hit his second home run of the series with a two-run shot in the seventh. His six homers this season are a new career best for the catcher. 

Wichita State 8, Memphis 1 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. -- Payton Tolle allowed just one run on five hits over seven excellent innings, and the Wichita State offense roughed up Memphis ace Dalton Fowler in an 8-1 win on Saturday afternoon at Eck Stadium.

The Shockers (26-16, 10-4 American) have now won seven consecutive conference games and have moved into sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference standings.

Tolle (8-1) put together yet another quality start, striking out nine while issuing just one walk. He allowed a run on three hits in the second inning, but bounced back with five scoreless frames while the Shocker offense took control. Trailing 1-0 into the third, Wichita State struck for a pair of runs to take a lead they did not relinquish. Jack Little continued his recent hot stretch with an RBI single, and Chuck Ingram gave WSU the lead with a fielder's choice ground out to third.

Kyte McDonald added another run in the fourth with an RBI double, one of three doubles on the day for McDonald to establish a new individual single-game high for the Shockers in 2023. The two-out, two-bagger scored David Herring all the way from first for a 4-1 advantage.

Wichita State got a gift run in the fifth with Memphis second baseman Austin Baskin dropped a high pop up from Garrett Pennington, allowing Ingram to score and increase the lead to 5-1.

The Shockers continued to tack on in the seventh with three runs, highlighted by run-scoring singles from Brock Rodden and Sawyre Thornhill. Little produced the final run of the afternoon in the eighth with a sacrifice fly.

Seven of the eight runs were charged to Fowler (5-4), who had not allowed more than five hits in any start this season before the Shockers touched him up for seven. The southpaw entered the start sixth nationally with 84 strikeouts, but punched out a season-low four over 6.1 innings.