Houston's victory over Wichita State on Friday, May 5 moved the Cougars to the top of the American Athletic Conference baseball standings.

Friday, May 5
East Carolina 9, Cincinnati 3 - Box Score
Memphis 4, South Florida 2 - Box Score
Houston 5, Wichita State 3 - Box Score
UCF 5, Tulane 3 - Box Score

East Carolina 9, Cincinnati 3 - Box Score
CINCINNATI, Ohio – No. 14 East Carolina pounded out 11 hits and held Cincinnati scoreless over the final six innings in a 9-3 American Athletic Conference victory Friday evening at the UC Baseball Stadium.
 
The Pirates (32-14, 10-6 AAC) defeated the Bearcats (20-25, 8-8 AAC) for the fourth time this season and extended their winning streak in the series to 10 games.
 
Luke Nowak drove in a game-high three runs thanks in large part to a pair of triples while Justin Wilcoxen rapped out three hits, scored two runs and accounted for two RBI. Alec Makarewicz also enjoyed a solid outing, notching a home run and triple to finish with a pair of RBI. Josh Hegemann and Cole Harting collected two hits for the homestanding Cincinnati club.
 
Jake Hunter (4-2) was credited with the win in relief, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings and scattering two hits while striking out five. Danny Beal tossed the final 3.1 frames, racking up five strikeouts and yielding just one hit. Garrett Harker (0-5) suffered the loss as he surrendered four runs (three earned) on five hits in 4.0 innings.
 
A bit of two-out magic propelled East Carolina to an early advantage. Josh Moylan sparked the rally with a double to right center before Jacob Jenkins-Cowart drew a walk on a full count. Nowak then split the gap in right center, sprinting all the way to third for a two-run triple and a 2-0 Pirate lead. Wilcoxen was able to work another walk to put runners on the corners, but a fly ball to left ended the frame.
 
ECU continued its offensive work in the top of the second as Makarewicz ripped a one-out triple over Hegemann's head in center field before scoring on a two-out fielding error by Griffin Hugus at short, extending the Pirate edge to 3-0.
 
Cincinnati produced a triple of its own off the bat of Hegemann with one away in the home half of the second and he would score on a Harting infield single to cut the East Carolina lead to two. The Bearcats weren't done though as Tommy O'Connor turned on a first pitch offering and launched it 468 feet to right field to knot the score at three. The deadlock did not last long, however, as Makarewicz hammered his seventh home run of the campaign over the wall in right center to give ECU a 4-3 edge.
 
East Carolina put the game away in the fifth inning. Jenkins-Cowart was hit by a pitch to lead things off and scored quickly as Nowak laced a triple down the right field line. Wilcoxen kept the line moving with an RBI single to make it 6-3 and Ryan McCrystal doubled to the gap in left center to push Wilcoxen to third. Makarewicz came through with a sac fly in the next at bat to plate Wilcoxen and leave the Pirates with a 7-3 cushion.

Memphis 4, South Florida 2 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis baseball team won its third-straight game on Friday night at FedExPark Avron Fogelman Field, defeating South Florida, 4-2, in game one of a three-game American Athletic Conference series.
 
With the win, the Tigers improve to 24-22 (6-10 AAC) on the season. The Bulls slipped to 18-29 (6-10) on the year with the loss.
 
South Florida took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a Travis Sankovich single. In the bottom of the third, the Tigers scratched back for a pair of runs on Austin Baskin's 10th double of the season to take a 2-1 lead. Brayland Skinner singled and Jake Curtis was hit by a pitch and came around to score on the gapper by Baskin.

USF tied the game momentarily at 2-2 in the top of the sixth on a ground out by John Montes. An RBI single by Cameron Benson in the bottom half of the sixth scored Will Spears and gave the Tigers the lead right back. Benson later came around to score on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 Memphis lead.

David Warren exited with the lead intact with two outs in the eighth inning, handing the ball over to co-NCAA saves leader Dalton Kendrick for the game's final four outs. Warren pitched 5.2 innings in relief of freshman Seth Garner and allowed just four hits and one run to earn the win and improve to 4-4 on the season.

Houston 5, Wichita State 3 - Box Score
HOUSTON – An eighth-inning comeback propelled the Houston baseball team to a 5-3 win against Wichita State on Friday evening at Schroeder Park. With the win, the Cougars hold sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference standings.  
 
The Cougars (27-19, 11-5) rallied for a four-run inning before holding off the Shockers (27-18, 10-6) in the top of the ninth. Sophomore reliever Dan Wright (2-1) recorded his second win of the season working 1.1 innings and allowing only one hit while junior utility player Justin Murray closed the game securing his seventh save. Wichita State starting pitcher Clark Candiotti threw 7.0 innings, permitting two earned runs while Shockers' closer Nate Snead (0-2) recorded the loss despite allowing no earned runs.
 
After two scoreless innings, a sacrifice fly from Wichita State put the first run on the board. A single to start the inning followed by a wild pitch put the Shockers in scoring position. Wichita State moved the runner to third base on a ground out before a long flyout brought the runner across for a 1-0 lead.
 
Houston found an opening in the bottom of the frame as senior outfielder Brandon Uhse doubled to the left field fence which was followed by a Malachi Lott single down the left side giving Uhse enough time to secure the 1-1 tie.
 
A two-out two-run home run by Brock Rodden gave the Shockers their second lead of the game in the seventh pushing Wichita State ahead 3-1.  
 
The Cougars took control plating four runs in the bottom of the eighth. A single to left field from Lott led off the inning before senior shortstop Ian McMillan reached on a Shocker error to move Lott to third base. Graduate transfer Drew Bianco blooped a ball to the pitcher giving Lott a chance to slide home to bring the game within one run at 3-2. Junior utility player Alex Lopez found the gap up the middle giving McMillan enough time to make it home and tie the game. Murray laced the next single of the inning to right field as pinch runner Brandon Burckel slid into home for the Cougars' first lead of the game 4-3. An intentional walk to freshman Thomas Lyssy was the final straw as Murray scored on a Wichita State failed pickoff attempt to eventually complete the comeback 5-3.

UCF 5, Tulane 3 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS -- UCF came from behind to defeat Tulane, 5-3, Friday evening. With the win the Knights moved to 26-19 and 7-9 in conference play, while the Green Wave fell to 13-33 and 6-10 in league play.

After the Green Wave took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, the Knights pulled within one in the third inning on a 2-run home run by Ben McCabe. UCF tied the game when McCabe hit an RBI double in the fifth.

In the top of the ninth, UCF took the lead on an RBI single by Andrew Sundean and added an insurance run on a wild pitch.

Kyle Kramer (2-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings while Chase Centala earned his first save. Michael Fowler (0-3) took the loss for the Green Wave.