TAMPA, Fla. (April 14, 2006) ? Senior Brian Baisley's three RBI helped guide the University of South Florida baseball team (17-19, 7-7 BIG EAST) to a 6-3 defeat of the Louisville Cardinals (15-20, 6-5 BIG EAST) on Friday, April 14 at Red McEwen Field. The win marked the third-straight win for the Bulls and moved USF to .500 in the BIG EAST standings.

Baisley hit 3-for-4, including a triple and a run scored. The Land O'Lakes, Fla., native, who was making his first start since April 2 (lower back pain), recorded his eighth multiple-hit contest with his three-hit outing.  Senior Kris Howell hit 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Nick Cardieri crossed home plate during a 2-for-4 outing.

Sophomore Daniel Thomas, allowed two runs on five hits in six innings of action to earn his second win of the season. Junior Nick Manganaro picked up his first-career save, throwing three innings of relief, allowing one run on three hits, while striking out four.

USF got on the board early with a run in the bottom of the first. Baisley registered his first RBI of the night, driving in Addison Maruszak from third. Louisville answered with a run in the top of the second, tying the game 1-all. An RBI-single to right field by Michael Urti drew the score even after two innings.

Four runs in the bottom of the third gave USF its largest lead of the night, 5-1. A triple by Baisley brought in two runs, while an RBI-double by Brandin Daniel and a wild pitch with a runner on third extended USF's lead to four runs.

Both Louisville and USF exchanged runs in the sixth inning. The Cardinals' Derrick Alfonso drove in a run with an RBI-double to left-center field to make the score 5-2. Josh LeRoy's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth made the score 6-2.

Louisville added a run in the top of the ninth, scoring on an RBI-single by Nick Haley. However, Manganaro closed out the game, earning the save and giving USF its seventh conference win of the season.

USF will close out its three-game series with Louisville on Saturday April 15. First pitch is 1 p.m.

USF 6, Louisville 3 (Apr 14, 2006 at Tampa, Fla.)
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Louisville.......... 010 001 001  -  3  8  2      (15-20, 6-5 BIG EAST)
USF................. 104 001 00X  -  6  10  3      (17-19, 7-7 BIG EAST)
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Pitchers: Louisville - J. Smith; Lynn(5); Magnuson(7); Salgueiro(7). USF - THOMAS; MANGANARO(7)
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Win-THOMAS(2-4)  Save-MANGANARO(1)  Loss-J. Smith(1-2)  T-2:56  A-647
THOMAS faced 2 batters in the 7th.