TAMPA, Fla. (Friday, Feb. 10) ? Led by junior pitcher Casey Hudspeth's 10 strikeouts, the University of South Florida baseball team (1-0) downed the Northwestern Wildcats (0-1), 5-2, to open the 2006 season on Friday, Feb. 10 at Red McEwen Field. The Sarasota, Fla., native held Northwestern's batter off balance, allowing four hits in five innings of action. Along with Hudspeth's strong performance on the mound, junior Ty Taborelli rattled off two hits while driving in two as the Bulls won their fourth-straight opening day game.
Nine different Bulls reached base versus the Wildcats, including Taborelli. Sophomore Dexter Butler went 2-for-4 with two runs scored while red-shirt freshman Mike Consolmagno hit 1-for-1, including three walks, scoring one run and driving in two.
Hudspeth (1-0, 0.00 ERA) set the tone early, striking out five batters through the first three innings. Allowing no walks, the right-hander gave up a run in the top of the fourth (unearned) before registering five more Ks in the fourth and fifth innings. His 10 strikeouts on the evening were just one shy of his career high (11, three times).
Northwestern was held to just six hits on the night, with second baseman Jake Owings leading the way. Owings went 2-for-4 on the night. Right-handed starter George Kontos (0-1) was credited with the loss, despite striking out six USF batter. Kontos allowed three runs on four hits while walking seven batters.
USF got on the board with a two-RBI single by Taborelli in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded, Taborelli drove a first-pitch single to right field, scoring Dexter Butler and Gus Fernandez from second and third respectively. Northwestern answered with a run in the top of the fourth when shortstop Tommy Finn drove in Antonio Mule to cut USF's lead to 2-1.
The Bulls added a run in the bottom of the fifth win an RBI single by Brandin Daniel. The Wildcats scored their second run of the contest in the top of the sixth. However, USF added two more runs to its lead with a two-RBI single by Consolmagno in the bottom of the sixth.
USF's bullpen shut down the Northwestern bats, holding the Wildcats to just two hits in the final four innings. Junior Yuri Higgins, who came in for relief of Hudspeth in the top of the sixth, allowed one run on one hit in one inning of action. Red-shirt freshman Raymon Garcia took the mound in the seventh and eighth innings, allowing no runs on one hit while striking out four before junior Chase Lirette came in to close out the game in the top of the ninth. Lirette allowed no runs on no hits with one strikeout in the final frame of the contest to pick up his first save of the season.
Game two of the three-game weekend series will take place on Saturday, Feb. 11 with the first pitch slated for 1 p.m. Scheduled to take the mound for the Bulls is sophomore Daniel Thomas. Junior Daniel Brauer is projected to start for the Wildcats.
USF 5, Northwestern 2 (Feb 10, 2006 at Tampa, Fla.)
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Northwestern........ 000 101 000 - 2 6 2 (0-1)
USF..................... 002 012 00X - 5 8 4 (1-0)
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Pitchers: Northwestern - Kontos; Ferla(6); Siberio(6); Schwartz(6); Davidson(8).
USF - Hudspeth; Higgins(6); Garcia(7); Lirette(9).
Win-Hudspeth(1-0) Save-Lirette(1) Loss-Kontos(0-1) T-3:14 A-818
Ferla faced 3 batters in the 6th.
