NOTRE DAME, Ind. (March 25, 2007) ? The University of South Florida (18-8, 4-2 BIG EAST) baseball team tallied seven runs in the final two innings to beat Notre Dame (11-11, 1-2 BIG EAST) 9-1 Sunday afternoon at Frank Eck Stadium.
Right hander Chris Delaney picked up his fifth win of the season after allowing just one run in 6.1 innings.
Freshman right hander Shawn Sanford earned his sixth save of the year after entering the game with the bases loaded in the seventh. Sanford struck out three of his nine batters in 2.1 innings.
Junior second baseman Dexter Butler extended his hitting streak to nine games with his 2-for-4 outing today. He tallied three RBI and scored one run while drawing one walk in USF's fourth BIG EAST win of the year.
In the third game of the series with Notre Dame, USF scored in the first inning for the 10th time in their last 13 games. Notre Dame counteracted by scoring one in the bottom of the first, but USF tallied seven in the final two innings to grab an eight-run victory over the Fighting Irish.
Following his four-walk outing on Saturday, junior shortstop Walter Diaz drew a walk to open the third game of the Bulls' second BIG EAST series. Sophomore Addison Maruszak reached on a fielder's choice, and Diaz advanced to second due to a ND error. Senior Ty Taborelli moved Diaz to third with a sac bunt, then Diaz scored as a wild pitch was thrown into the backstop.
Maruszak scored USF's second run of the inning as Butler grounded out to the third baseman, giving the Bulls an early 2-0 margin.
Notre Dame answered as the Fighting Irish's leadoff batter hit a homerun over the left field fence to quickly cut USF's lead to one.
Over the next six innings, USF left three runners on base while Notre Dame stranded 12.
With the bases loaded in the seventh, junior left-hander James Rowe came in to relieve Delaney, who had thrown two strikeouts and walked two in 6.1 innings pitched. Rowe struck out his only batter before giving way to freshman right handed closer Sanford.
The Cinnaminson, N.J., native forced Notre Dame to fly out to right field, stranding three runners on the base paths and prolong USF's 2-1 lead.
In the eighth, LeRoy was hit by a pitch, Diaz singled to left field and Taborelli was intentionally walked to load the bases for Butler. With one out, Butler drew the walk, scoring LeRoy and bringing junior Brandin Daniel to the plate. Daniel notched his 30th RBI of the season after sending a sac fly to right field and scoring Diaz from third. Senior Nick Cardieri cleaned off the bases with a two-run double to left center field, which gave USF the 6-1 lead entering the bottom of the eighth.
Sanford struck out two of his five batters in the bottom of the eighth, allowing no runs on two hits.
In the ninth, USF continued to score, tallying three runs off of three hits.
LeRoy started the inning by drawing a walk, then Diaz singled up the middle before Maruszak singled to left field. Taborelli sent a sac fly to center field and Butler put a base hit up the middle before Daniel struck out to end the inning.
USF ended the game with a three-up, three-down situation including one strikeout from Sanford.
Diaz was 2-for-4 with three runs scored while Cardieri was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
This week, USF will host Florida A&M in a two-game mid-week series, as the Bulls and Rattlers face off Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Red McEwen Field.
After the two games with the Rattlers, USF will travel to Storrs to play the Connecticut Huskies March 30 - April 1. The trip will be the Bulls' second-consecutive BIG EAST Conference series on the road after playing 21 home games to start the season.
