South Florida dropped the final game of the regular season, 7-1.
TAMPA (May 20, 2023) – The No. 15 ECU Pirates (41-15, 18-6 AAC) completed a three-game sweep of the University of South Florida Bulls (19-37, 7-17 AAC) on Saturday afternoon at USF Baseball Stadium and captured their fourth consecutive regular season conference championship in the process.
Unlike the first two games of the final series of the regular season, where the Pirates came from behind for wins, ECU led wire-to-wire in Saturday’s finale for a 7-1 victory.
ECU’s Josh Moylan broke the scoring seal with a two-out run-scoring double off Ethan Brown (Winter Garden) to stake the Pirates to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the third, Drew Brutcher (Lakeland) belted his 34th career home run to make it a 2-1 affair. Brutcher homered in all three games of the series and moved into a tie for sixth on USF’s all-time career home run list.
The Pirates began to pull away in the fifth inning with a pair of runs and proceeded to add a single tally in the sixth, and two more in the top of the seventh.
Brown allowed four runs on four hits with three strikeouts over 4.0 IP. The left-handed senior turned in his longest outing in over a month after working his way back from a shoulder injury on April 14th.
Notable
- Bobby Boser (Wesley Chapel) missed Saturday’s finale with an injury after suffering a collision at home plate on Friday night.
- Brutcher’s 13th home run on Saturday matched his career high set in 2022. He set a new career high in the game with his 41st RBI of the season.
- Brutcher has homered in three consecutive games twice this season and three times in his three-year career.
- Prior to Saturday’s regular season finale, USF honored its 2023 graduates: Dylan Vega, Travis Sankovich, Nolan Hudi, Ben Rozenblum, Ethan Brown, Hunter Mink, Tanner Mink and Daniel Cantu.
Up Next
The Bulls and Pirates will meet for the fourth consecutive game in the opening round of the AAC Tournament on Tuesday, May 23. ECU is the top seed and USF is seeded eighth. The game will begin 47 minutes after the conclusion of the 9 a.m. contest.
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 –
