Freshman Eric Snow hit a grand slam for the second straight day.
TAMPA (March 5, 2023) – Freshman Eric Snow (Forsyth, Ga.) launched a grand slam for the second straight day at USF Baseball Stadium on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough as the University of South Florida Bulls rallied in the ninth inning before falling in the series finale to Northeastern, 8-7.
Snow belted his first career home run on Saturday, and repeated the feat Sunday with a grand slam in back-to-back games on Sunday. The freshman batted .545 (6-for-11) with a double, two homers and 10 RBI over the three-game weekend series.
South Florida falls to 3-9 after suffering just its second non-conference home sweep in the past six seasons under head coach Billy Mohl. Northeastern also swept USF in its last visit to Tampa in 2020. The Huskies improve to 8-1 on the year. Northeastern recorded nine home runs in the series and has 23 longballs on the young season which ranks in the Top 15 in the NCAA.
“That’s a really good ballclub with a lot of offensive firepower,” said Mohl. “We’re scoring plenty of runs on offense too, but we have to be better as a pitching staff. We need to cut down on the walks, not make mistakes when we are ahead in counts, and keep the ball down in the zone – all of those things hurt us this weekend. We need to make the adjustments and get better on the mound.”
The Huskies scratched the plate first in Sunday’s finale with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning, but Snow’s grand slam in the bottom of the frame gave USF a 4-2 lead.
Northeastern tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning and tacked on single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to build a 7-4 advantage.
A run-scoring single by Drew Brutcher (Lakeland) in the bottom of the eighth inning made it a 7-5 affair, but the Huskies answered with an insurance run which loomed large in the top of the ninth to take a three-run lead heading to the bottom of the ninth inning.
Snow began the USF ninth with a single and Ben Rozenblum (Coral Springs) followed with a base hit to bring the tying run to the plate. Two batters later, down to his last strike with two outs, Bobby Boser (Wesley Chapel) roped an RBI-single to center field. Daniel Cantu (Jacksonville) was next, and after falling into an 0-2 count, he made it an 8-7 ballgame with an RBI-single of his own.
Northeastern then made a call to the bullpen and with the tying run at second and winning run at first, the Huskies retired the final out with a strikeout of Brutcher.
Notable
- Brutcher extended his hitting streak to eight straight games, finishing the day 2-for-6.
- John Montes (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) also extended his hitting streak to seven straight games.
- Boser went 3-for-5 with an RBI to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 12 straight games to begin the season.
Up Next
The Bulls wrap up their four-game homestand against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. in Tampa.
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 –
