Carmine Lane homered and drove in a pair in Saturday’s 2-1 win.
TAMPA (May 7, 2022) – The American Athletic Conference leader in hits and RBI, Carmine Lane (Lake Placid), homered and drove in both runs for the University of South Florida (24-22, 5-12 AAC) on Saturday afternoon in a 2-1 triumph over rival UCF (28-18, 11-6 AAC) in the second game of a War On I-4 weekend series.
Lane delivered his ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning to stake South Florida to a 1-0 lead and padded the advantage with a run-scoring single in the fifth frame as the Bulls evened up the weekend set with UCF.
Lane’s 68 hits and 50 RBI each lead the league this season.
The Bulls got a strong starting pitching performance from Ethan Brown (Winter Gardens), but his start was cut short as lightning in the area forced an hour and 10-minute delay in the middle of the third frame. Brown struck out two and allowed two hits over 3.0 IP.
When play resumed, Hunter Mink (Safety Harbor) took over on the hill and turned in four innings of relief. Mink scattered four hits and allowed one run while striking out two batters over 4.0 IP for his third win of the season.
Orion Kerkering (Venice) returned to dominant form in his closer role and nailed down his second save of the year. Kerkering allowed just one hit and struck out four over 2.0 IP.
Notable
- Lane finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk for his 21st multi-hit game of the season. His two RBI raised his multi-RBI game total this year to 16.
- Jarrett Eaton (Mobile, Ala.) went 1-for-4 with double and a run scored, and has five extra-base hits over his last six games.
- Ben Rozenblum (Coral Springs) went 1-for-3 with a walk, tallying his first hit in his second start since returning from a broken foot.
Up Next
The Bulls and Knights will play the rubber match of their weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Tampa. Sunday is also USF’s annual Cut for the Cure Game in conjunction with the Vs. Cancer foundation.
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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