The Bulls defeated the Pirates at The Red for the first time since 2021.
TAMPA, May 16, 2025– The University of South Florida Bulls (28-23, 15-11 American) defeated the East Carolina Pirates (29-24, 13-13 American) in dominant fashion, 10-0 in seven innings, on Friday night at The Red. The Bulls have evened the series.
The Bulls have locked in the No. 3 seed for the 2025 American Athletic Tournament that begins next Tuesday, May 20, at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla. The Bulls will play the No. 6 seed in the final game on Tuesday night. Right now, East Carolina holds the No. 6 seed.
In the bottom of the first, Matt Rose helped put the first run on the board for the Bulls with an RBI infield single to drive in Ryan Pruitt from second. Marcus Brodil added to USF’s first-inning lead with a bases-clearing double to score Rafael Betancourt and Matt Rose. The Bulls completed the inning with a 3-0 advantage.
Corey Braun held the Pirates scoreless in 2 2/3 in the left-hander’s final regular season start, holding the ECU bats in the infield with five groundouts.
Marcus Brodil extended the Bulls lead in the 4th with a solo homer out to right field, 4-0. Following the homer, USF would rally to a bases-loaded situation for Ryan Pruitt. Pruitt’s infield knock allowed Carter Murphy to score due to an error by ECU’s SS Alex Bouche on a potential defensive double play. The Bulls grabbed another run off of a Lance Trippel RBI single with two outs in the inning to put South Florida up 6-0.
Following Braun’s outing, Bryce Archie would lead the Bulls on the mound with 2 2/3, striking out two batters and only two hits.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Pruitt would score on a sacrifice fly by Matt Rose to extend the Bulls lead. Lance Trippel added one more on a stolen base from third to home to put the score at 8-0.
The Bulls grabbed two more in the bottom of the seventh off an RBI base hit by Ryan Pruitt to earn South Florida the walk-off win.
Key Stats:
- Matt Rose stretches his hitting streak to seven games.
- Matt Rose completed his third multi-RBI game of the season.
- Marcus Brodil earned the team’s 20th muti-hit performance of the season.
- Ryan Pruitt posted his 10th multi-RBI performance of the season, third with three RBIs.
- Marcus Brodil secured his 10th multi-RBI game of the year and only his second 3-RBI game.
- Carlos Jacome has a hit in 12 of his last 14 games.
- Carter Murphy produced his fifth multi-hit game of the season.
- Ryan Pruitt’s single in the 7th is the 26th game-winning RBI play of the season, the sixth earned by Pruitt.
- The Bulls’ 15 conference wins are now the most for the program since joining the American.
Notables:
- The Bulls are 10-0 when scoring 10 or more runs in a game.
- The Bulls are 8-0 when opposing teams score 0-2 runs in a game.
- Tonight’s home win over ECU marks the first victory over the Pirates in Tampa since May 22, 2021 (8-2).
- The 10-0 score marks the largest margin of victory for a Bulls win against ECU since April 14, 2018, when the Bulls defeated the Pirates 13-1 (12-run margin).
Up Next:
South Florida will close out the regular season with East Carolina tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. The Bulls will honor Sebastian Greco, Jack Nedrow, Matthew Buffington, Matt Brown, Caleb Pundsack, Brand Keyster, and student manager Hogan Bleakley for Senior Day. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on Bulls Unlimited.
Tickets:
Tickets to watch Bulls baseball at the USF Baseball Stadium may be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls or clicking HERE.
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About USF Baseball
The South Florida Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and will enter its 60th campaign in 2025. Mitch Hannahs was named South Florida’s eighth head coach in program history on June 8, 2024, after compiling 355 wins over 11 seasons at Indiana State. The 2023 ABCA NCAA DI Midwest Region Coach of the Year guided the Sycamores to six conference titles and five NCAA Regionals. The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. 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, and 19 Bulls have earned Freshman All-America accolades. USF has had 131 MLB Draft Picks. Former 2018 first-round draft pick Shane McClanahan is a two-time MLB All-Star.
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