Freshman Rafael Betancourt recorded a career-high three RBI in Sunday’s 12-9 setback.
ORLANDO (April 2, 2023) – After securing the program’s first series win over UCF in Orlando on Saturday, the University of South Florida aimed for its first-ever American Athletic Conference road sweep on Sunday, but came up short in a 12-9 loss in the finale of a three-game weekend series.
South Florida (12-17, 2-1) sits in a tie for first place in the AAC standings after the opening weekend of league play. UCF moves to 17-11 (1-2) after salvaging the series finale.
A five-run fifth inning for UCF was the difference in the ballgame. USF raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first frame only to see the Knights knot the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the third inning. After the Bulls went back in front, 6-3, in the top of the fifth, the Knights took their first lead of the three-game series in the bottom of the inning and never relinquished it.
Rafael Betancourt (Deltona), Travis Sankovich (Uniontown, Pa.) and Bobby Boser (Wesley Chapel) each had run-scoring hits with two outs in the top of the first inning.
A UCF three-run homer tied the score in the bottom of the third. Betancourt drove in two more runs as part of USF’s three-run fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, the Knights batted around and put five runs on the board against the USF bullpen for an 8-6 lead.
Trailing 9-6 after six innings, the Bulls closed the gap to 9-8, including an RBI-single by Marcus Brodil (Dunedin), but ultimately left the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with a pair of strikeouts to end the frame.
The Knights tacked on three more insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh before Daniel Cantu’s (Jacksonville) solo homer in the top of the eighth accounted for the final tally of the ballgame.
Notable
- Betancourt is batting .347 with eight RBI over his first 13 collegiate games.
- Cantu is batting .476 (9-for-19) with six doubles, a homer and eight RBI over his last five games, and .400 (16-for-40) with eight doubles, two homers and 13 RBI over his last 10 games.
- Eric Snow (Forsyth, Ga.) went 3-for-6 on Sunday for his seventh multi-hit game of the season.
- Jack Cebert (Tampa) allowed three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk over 4.0 IP in Sunday’s start.
- USF’s trio of starting pitchers posted a 1.53 ERA (3 ER/17.2 IP) with 18 strikeouts and only four walks over the three-game series at UCF.
Up Next
The Bulls return to Tampa to open a four-game homestand beginning on Tuesday, April 4 against UNF at 6 p.m. USF will then host Tulane on April 6-8 at USF Baseball Stadium.
About USF Baseball
The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 58th season in 2023 under head coach Billy Mohl (sixth season). The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four since 2015, and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. USF was ranked in the Top 25 by five different publications in the final 2021 polls, checking in as high as No. 16. The Bulls have won five conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro and 1 C-USA). USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, most recently with third baseman David Villar in 2018, and 18 have earned Freshman All-America accolades, most recently Drew Brutcher and Carmine Lane in 2021. Four Bulls were selected in the 2022 MLB Draft. Former 2018 first-round selection, Shane McClanahan, became the program’s first-ever MLB All-Star in 2022 and was the starting pitcher for the American League.
– #GoBulls –
