Ethan Brown gave the Bulls three stellar innings out of the bullpen in a heartbreaking 13-inning loss.
TALLAHASSEE (March 1, 2023) – The University of South Florida Bulls (3-6) had No. 16 Florida State (7-1) on the ropes Wednesday night at Dick Howser Stadium. South Florida scored twice in the top of the 13th inning, looking to tally its third Top 25 victory of the young season, but a pair of perfectly placed Seminole hits in the bottom of the frame saw the home team rally for a 7-6 win.
Six of USF’s nine games this year have been against opponents ranked inside the Top 25.
Deadlocked at 4-4 since the eighth inning, the Bulls broke the tie with a pair of clutch hits in the 13th frame. Travis Sankovich (Uniontown, Pa.) doubled to lead off the inning and two batters later, Jackson Mayo (St. Johns) gave USF a 5-4 lead with an RBI-single. Daniel Cantu (Jacksonville) added some insurance later in the inning with a two-out run-scoring hit to make it a 6-4 ballgame.
A one-out walk started the FSU rally followed by a flair down the right field line that narrowly dropped past a diving Drew Brutcher (Lakeland) and resulted in an RBI-triple. Two batters later, with the winning runs on base, Caleb Pundsack (Groveland) relieved Chandler Dorsey (Lakeland) and recorded a big strikeout for the second out of the inning. The next batter hit a high fly ball into no man’s land behind second base which eventually dropped for the walk-off hit.
“That was a heartbreaker,” said head coach Billy Mohl. “This team is resilient and these tough losses will allow us to grow and become battle tested. Tough times don’t last, tough people do, and I love this team’s heart. We are right on the verge of breaking through and our guys know that. I’ll go to battle with every single one of them any day.”
Florida State struck first on Wednesday with three runs in the bottom of the first inning before a stellar combined effort from the USF bullpen held the nationally-ranked Seminoles to just one run for a 10-inning stretch.
Ethan Brown (Winter Garden), Tanner Mink (Palm Harbor) and Riley Skeen (Pompano Beach) combined to blank the Seminoles for 6.1 IP with 10 strikeouts. Brown struck out six and allowed just one hit over 3.0 IP.
With Florida State’s offense in check, the Bulls began to mount their comeback. John Montes (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) recorded his first home run of the season to put USF on the board in the fifth inning and Cantu cut the FSU lead to 3-2 with an RBI-single later in the frame.
An RBI-groundout by Nelson Rivera (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth before the Seminoles answered to reclaim the lead in the bottom of the inning, 4-3.
Rivera struck again with the game-tying RBI in the top of the eighth which eventually pushed the game into extra innings.
Notable
- Montes went 3-for-6 on Wednesday and has a four-game hitting streak with at least two hits in each of those contests.
- Cantu is also riding a four-game hitting streak with a multi-hit effort in each of those games.
- Brutcher extended his hitting streak to five straight games.
- Mayo is batting .389 (7-for-18) with three homers and 10 RBI over his last five games.
- Dorsey (1-1) was saddled with the loss and charged with all three runs in the 13th inning, but gave the Bulls another strong outing from the bullpen (2.1 IP/3 K).
Up Next
The Bulls return home after a five-game road stretch to host Northeastern for a three-game weekend series beginning on Friday, March 3 at 6:30 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 –
