Ben Rozenblum drove in a pair of runs for the Bulls on Saturday.
GREENVILLE, N.C. (May 14, 2022) – The University of South Florida Bulls led early, but the ECU Pirates chipped away and broke the game open with eight runs in the sixth inning to claim an 11-3 victory on Saturday in game two of a weekend series.
ECU secured the series win, continues to lead the AAC standings and improves to 33-18 (16-4 AAC) while South Florida falls to 26-24 (6-14 AAC).
The Bulls raced out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. ECU got on the board with a two-out two-run homer in the third inning and knotted the score at 3-3 on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
After working a scoreless inning of relief in the fifth frame, Hunter Mink (Palm Harbor) ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth. The Pirates hit a few balls hard in the inning but also had some well-placed hits accompanied by some bad luck for the Bulls.
A hit batter and a double began the ECU sixth, followed by an infield single on an check-swing off the knob of the bat. The go-ahead run scored on a bases-loaded balk, and with the infield pulled in, the next Pirate batter lined a single off the glove of Carmine Lane. A handful of seeing-eye singles later, and the Pirates totaled eight runs on eight hits in the frame for an 11-3 advantage.
A new-look USF batting order got off to a good start with four hits in the opening frame of the ballgame. Nick Gonzalez (Tampa) singled with one out and Drew Brutcher (Lakeland) drilled a two-out double. Ben Rozenblum (Coral Springs) followed with a two-run double and Marcus Brodil (Dunedin) capped the three-run frame with an RBI-single up the middle.
Notable
- Lane recorded his American Athletic Conference leading 72nd hit in the game.
- Brutcher has a double in each game of the series after returning on Friday for the first time in a month from a lower body injury.
- Brodil went 2-for-4 on the day and is batting .371 (13-35) over his last 10 games.
- Gonzalez is hitting .385 (20-52) over 17 conference games this year.
- Brad Lord (Crawfordville) allowed three runs on five hits with six strikeouts over 4.0 IP in his start on the mound.
- Tyler Dietz (Trinity) tossed a scoreless inning of relief in the eighth.
Up Next
The Bulls and Pirates conclude their weekend set on Sunday. First pitch is set for 12:30 p.m.
For tickets, please visit usfbullstix.com or call 1-800-Go-Bulls.
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.
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