Ben Rozenblum homered for the third straight game in an 8-7 victory for the Bulls.
TAMPA (April 6, 2024) – The University of South Florida Bulls (18-13, 5-3 AAC) picked up their second straight win over the Wichita State Shockers (19-12, 5-3 AAC) in 8-7 fashion on Saturday afternoon to secure a conference series victory at USF Baseball Stadium. Jack Cebert (Tampa) turned in his third quality start of the season and Ben Rozenblum (Coral Springs) homered for the third straight game.
“It was good to see Jack give us another quality start after Hunter set the tone for the series last night,” said head coach Billy Mohl. “Our offense put together quality at-bats all day and produced timely hits with two-out rallies, and that’s what you need to do against quality pitching. It’s good to secure the series on a Saturday, but there’s still work to be done.”
Rozenblum connected on a three-run homer for the second straight game as part of a four-run second inning that saw South Florida take the lead, which the Bulls never relinquished.
Cebert (4-2) logged 7.0 IP, his longest outing of the season, and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts and zero walks. The South Florida pitching staff didn’t issue a walk on Saturday for the first time this season.
Drew Brutcher (Lakeland), John Montes (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico), Jackson Mayo (St. John’s) and Matt Rose (Clearwater) each recorded two hits for the Bulls, who have combined for 27 hits over the first two games of the series against two of the top southpaws in the league. Wichita State’s Tyler Dobbs entered the day with a 2.18 ERA. Dobbs had allowed just five extra-base hits all season and zero home runs until Rozenblum’s blast.
The Bulls led 8-3 entering the ninth inning before the Shockers put together a late rally, but Chandler Dorsey (Lakeland) entered from the bullpen for the second day in a row to record the final outs of the ballgame and earn his sixth save of the season.
Notable
- Montes has reached base safely in 13 straight games.
- Rozenblum, who has a career-high six home runs, has four homers in his last nine games. He joined Boser as the only Bull to homer in three straight games this season – Brutcher did it twice in 2023.
- Marcus Brodil (Dunedin) extended his hitting streak to a career-best eight straight games. Brodil is batting .423 (11-for-26) over eight AAC games.
- Rose is batting .435 (10-for-23) over his last six starts.
- The Bulls have recorded 10 or more hits in a game 19 times this season through 31 games.
Up Next
The Bulls will aim for their conference sweep since 2017 (ECU) during Sunday’s series finale with Wichita State set for 1 p.m. in Tampa.
Double Play Passes, which include one ticket to every home baseball and softball game, can be purchased now for $99. Group and single game tickets are also on sale and can be purchased here or by calling 1-800-Go-Bulls.
About USF Baseball
The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 59th season in 2024 under head coach Billy Mohl (seventh 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 19 have earned Freshman All-America accolades, most recently Eric Snow in 2023. 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 –
