USF opens play on Tuesday against regular season champion ECU.
CLEARWATER, Fla. (May 23, 2022) – The University of South Florida Bulls travel across the Bay from Tampa to Clearwater for the 2022 American Athletic Conference Championship hosted at BayCare Ballpark. South Florida opens play on Tuesday, May 24 against regular season champion and No. 23-nationally ranked ECU.
Tuesday’s game time is slated to begin 47 minutes after the conclusion of the 9 a.m. game (approximately 1 p.m.).
The opening round matchup will pit last year’s AAC tournament champion USF Bulls against the three-time defending regular season champion ECU Pirates. ECU swept a three-game series against USF in Greenville, N.C. earlier this month. The teams spilt a four-game series in Tampa to conclude the 2021 regular season ahead of the Bull’s historic postseason run.
On Monday, the league tabbed Carmine Lane to the All-Conference First Team for his standout season. The redshirt sophomore, coming off a Freshman All-American season in 2021, led the AAC in hits (77) and RBI (54) in 2022. Lane was a Second Team selection a year ago and has paced USF in batting average, hits, extra-base hits and RBI in each of the last two seasons.
Lane’s game-tying homer in the eighth inning of Saturday’s regular season finale against Wichita State set up Drew Brutcher’s walk-off home run in the 10th frame. Brutcher also hit the go-ahead homer in the series opener on Thursday and was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Sunday.
Brutcher and Ben Rozenblum each recently returned from injuries that kept them out for several weeks during conference play and have helped bolster the USF offense recently. Nick Gonzalez helped keep the Bulls afloat during AAC play by ranking third in the league during conference games with a.364 batting average.
True freshmen Marcus Brodil and Jackson Mayo have both had impressive rookie seasons at the plate, combining for 28 extra-base hits, 11 homers and 42 RBI. Mayo ranks third on the team in both home runs (9) and RBI (31).
Tuesday’s Pitching Matchup
USF – RHP Brad Lord (3-7, 5.12 ERA) vs. ECU – LHP C.J. Mayhue (4-1, 3.27 ERA).
About USF Baseball
The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 57th season in 2022. Head coach Billy Mohl is entering his fifth season at the helm. 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 players were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft, including the program’s fourth first-round selection in pitcher Shane McClanahan, who made his Major League debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series and was the Rays’ postseason game one starter in 2021.
– #GoBulls –
