TAMPA, Fla. (Sunday, March 26) ? Joey Angelberger and Addison Maruszak combined for nine RBI on six hits to lead the University of South Florida (14-11, 5-1 BIG EAST) to an 11-9 victory and a series sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates (6-15, 1-5 BIG EAST) on Sunday, March 26 at Red McEwen Field. Following two low-scoring “pitcher's duels” on Friday and Saturday, Sunday's contest featured 20 runs on 25 hits.

Angelberger drove in five RBI, tying his career high, going 3-for-5, including his first-career triple. Maruszak recorded two doubles, going 3-for-5 with a career-high four RBI. Senior Brian Baisley hit a perfect 2-for-2 with two walks on the day. The Land O'Lakes, Fla., native drove in a run and scored two on the afternoon. Third baseman Dexter Butler went 2-for-4 with two runs scored while second baseman Nick Cardieri crossed home plate twice during a 2-for-5 performance versus the Pirates.

Junior Yuri Higgins earned his third win of the season, allowing no runs on no hits while striking out one in one and one-third innings of action. Higgins came in for relief of sophomore Davis Bilardello, who was making his sixth start of the season. Bilardello gave up five runs on nine hits in four and two-thirds innings pitched. The Vero Beach, Fla., native struck out four Pirate batters while allowing two walks. Ryan Lau, Nick Manganaro, Chase Lirette combined for three innings to close out the game. Lirette, who came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning, struck out two Seton Hall hitters to claim his fourth save of the season.

Seton Hall's Dan Merklinger was credited with his fourth loss of the season, allowing six runs on eight hits in three and two-thirds innings of action.

The Pirates jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. A double down the right-field line by Mark Pappas scored Dan Lopez from second. Two batters later, Robbie Hine doubled to left-center field, bringing home Pappas to give the Pirates a two-run advantage.

USF answered with two runs in the bottom of the first to tie the score at 2-all. A single to right field by Angelberger drove in Baisley and Maruszak from second and third respectively to bring the score even, 2-2.

Seton Hall regained the lead with a run in the top of the fourth off of an RBI-single to left field by Lopez.

Five runs in the bottom of the fourth gave USF a 7-3 lead. Highlighted by a bases-loaded triple by Angelberger, the Bulls scored five runs on fours hits during the inning.

Seton Hall cut into USF's lead with two runs in the top of the fifth. However, the Bulls responded, scoring four in their half of the fifth to extend the lead to 11-5. A double by Maruszak to center field drove in three runs while an RBI-single by Baisley rounded out the scoring for USF in fifth inning.

A grand slam by pinch hitter Chris Affinito in the top of the seventh brought Seton Hall within two runs of USF. But, Manganaro and Lirette combined to shut out the Pirates in the final two innings to give the Bulls their fifth-straight win.

The three-game sweep of Seton Hall was the first-ever BIG EAST sweep for USF. The win also closed out the Bulls 15-game home stand during the month of March in which USF went 10-5.

USF will travel to Gainesville to take on the ninth-ranked Florida Gators on Wednesday, March 29. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.

USF 11, Seton Hall 9 (Mar 26, 2006 at Tampa, Fla.)
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Seton Hall.......... 200 120 400 - 9 11 0 (6-15, 1-5 BIG EAST)
USF................. 200 540 00X - 11 14 3 (14-11, 5-1 BIG EAST)
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Pitchers: Seton Hall - MERKLINGER; MCNULTY, A.(4); VANDENBOUT(4); BASSO, C.(5); FERNANDEZ, L(7)
. USF - BILARDELLO; HIGGINS(5); LAU(7); MANGANARO(8); LIRETTE(9).
Win-HIGGINS(3-2) Save-LIRETTE(4) Loss-MERKLINGER(2-4) T-3:39 A-264
HR SHU - AFFINITO, C. (1).
MCNULTY, A. faced 2 batters in the 4th.