The Bulls have won seven of their last 11 games and are looking for back-to-back AAC series wins.
MATCHUP: USF at Wichita State (four-game series)
SCHEDULE: Fri., May 14 at 1 p.m. (DH), Sat., May 15 at 2 p.m., Sun., May 16 at 12 p.m.
FOLLOW: Live Stats I Twitter updates @USFBaseball
WATCH: ESPN+ (Game 1 only)
TAMPA (May 13, 2021) – The USF Bulls (20-22, 10-10 AAC) wrap up an eight-game stretch away from home, and conclude the road portion of their regular season schedule with a four-game weekend series against the Wichita State Shockers (25-18, 13-10 AAC). The series begins with a doubleheader on Friday, followed by single games on Saturday and Sunday.
The Bulls are coming off their first American series win this season, taking three of four games at Memphis last weekend to return to the .500 mark in conference play. Another series win in Wichita State would not only bolster USF’s standing in the AAC hierarchy with the conference tournament just two weeks away, but could lift the Bulls’ overall record back to, or above, .500.
Head coach Billy Mohl has announced Dylan Burns (Vero Beach), Collin Sullivan (Randolph, Mass.) and Jack Jasiak (Spring Hill) as USF’s starting pitchers for the series, respectively, with the Game 4 started yet to be determined.
Burns and Sullivan, both redshirt seniors, have been dominant on the hill recently. Burns is 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA since moving to the rotation in late March, and holds a 2.13 ERA with 17 strikeouts over his last two starts. Sullivan is 2-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 52 strikeouts over his last seven starts. Last weekend, Sullivan recorded his third straight quality start while striking out a season-high 13 batters (one off his career high), including a stretch of nine straight punchouts against Memphis.
Jasiak returned to the win column last weekend in Memphis, logging his eighth quality start of the season.
Carmine Lane (Lake Placid) continues to pace the Bulls with a .307 batting average and shares the team lead in hits (50) with Riley Hogan (Orlando). Hogan is hitting .358 with 10 extra-base hits and 14 RBI in conference play. Matt Ruiz (Hialeah) leads USF in doubles (12), runs scored (30) and stolen bases (7).
Joaquin Monque (Weston) was named to the AAC Honor Roll earlier this week after leading the offense to a series win at Memphis. The freshman batted .462 with four walks and four RBI in the series. A Bull has been named Player/Pitcher of the Week or to the Honor Roll nine times this season.
Scouting Wichita State
The Shockers and Bulls match up fairly even on paper with Wichita State’s stats having three more games played than USF. Against common opponents this year (Stetson, Houston, Cincy and UCF), WSU owns a 12-6 record while USF went 11-10 in those games.
WSU has won five of its last seven games overall and is coming off a 3-1 series win at UCF last weekend.
The Shockers hold an edge in speed on the basepaths and defense, as one of the top fielding teams in the country. Wichita State features a balanced lineup that hits for average and has some pop up and down the batting order. Five Shockers are batting over .320, each of which have at least 12 extra-base hits. Corrigan Barlett leads the team and ranks fifth in the AAC at a .348 clip. Jack Sigrist (14), David VanVooren (10) and Couper Cornblum (8) have accounted for 32 of the Shockers’ 54 stolen bases.
Wichita State has announced the following weekend rotation: RHP Jace Kaminska (6-0, 1.23 ERA), RHP Liam Eddy (4-7, 6.06), RHP Preston Snavely (3-5, 4.72) and LHP Gareth Stroh (0-0, 9.00). Kaminska, a freshman, ranks fourth in the country in ERA.
Up Next
Following this series, the Bulls return home and conclude their regular season schedule against No. 11 East Carolina. The four-game series begins with a doubleheader on Thursday, May 20 at 3 p.m.
About USF Baseball
The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 56th season in 2021. The Bulls have won 1,628 games entering the 2021 season and made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, including three since 2015. The Bulls have won four conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt and 1 Metro) and had 126 all-conference selections. USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, most recently with third baseman David Villar in 2018. Four players were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft, including the program’s fourth first round selection in pitcher Shane McClanahan, who appeared in the 2020 World Series with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Bulls saw continued success in head coach Billy Mohl’s first season in 2018, reaching 36 wins, advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the first time since 2012, and making the program’s latest NCAA Tournament appearance while also achieving a ranking in multiple polls for the final two months of the season.
– #GoBulls –
