Caleb Pundsack recorded his first career save in a 5-3 win on Saturday.
TAMPA (March 18, 2023) – The University of South Florida Bulls (8-12) tallied their second straight comeback win over the Army Black Knights (6-10) on Saturday afternoon at USF Baseball Stadium, 5-3. South Florida has won three straight games overall, and four of its last five.
First pitch was moved up to 10 a.m. on Saturday due to the threat of afternoon storms and the game was played in a tidy hour and 48 minutes.
John Montes (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) belted a go-ahead three-run homer for the Bulls in the fifth inning, approximately 13 hours after hitting a walk-off home run in the series opener on Friday night.
The Black Knights scratched the plate for a run off Hunter Mink (Palm Harbor) in the bottom of the first inning and built a 3-0 lead on a two-run homer in the third frame.
H. Mink (3-2) did not allow a hit and only one base runner for the remainder of his outing. The right-hander turned in his second quality start of the season in the win and allowed three runs on just three hits with a career-high eight strikeouts over 6.0 IP.
Drew Brutcher (Lakeland) got the Bulls on the board with an RBI-single in the fourth inning and freshman Eric Snow (Forsyth, Ga.) made it a 3-2 ballgame later in the inning.
After Montes’ go-ahead blast, H. Mink and the bullpen locked down the Army offense for the remainder of the afternoon.
Tanner Mink (Palm Harbor) tossed and scoreless inning while Caleb Pundsack (Groveland) turned in two scoreless and recorded his first career save on the mound.
Notable
- T. Mink has allowed just one run and struck out 12 batters over his last five appearances (91 IP).
- Pundsack has not allowed a run over his last six appearances (8.0 IP).
- Brutcher has reached base safely in 16 straight ballgames.
- Montes has hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games with eight multi-hit efforts.
- Snow is tied with Daniel Cantu (Jacksonville) with a team-high 13 RBI.
- Saturday was USF’s fifth comeback win of the season.
Up Next
The Bulls and Black Knights wrap up their three-game weekend series on Sunday, March 19 at 1 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 –
