University of South Florida
West Virginia
Homerun By Daniel Lifts Bulls To 8-5 Victory Over West Virginia
April 05, 2007 | Baseball
TAMPA, Fla. (April 5, 2007) ? A two-run homer in the third by junior Brandin Daniel helped the University of South Florida (24-9, 7-3) to its 24th win of the season, an 8-5 victory over West Virginia (17-9, 3-4), Thursday night at Red McEwen Field.
Daniel was 2-for-4 on the night, with the home run and a double, while junior short stop Walter Diaz extended his hitting streak to 15 games with his 2-for-3 outing.
Senior right handed pitcher Danny Otero recorded his second complete game of the season, racking up eight strikeouts and just two walks in his sixth win of the season. Otero allowed 10 hits and five runs, four of which were earned.
In the first game of the BIG EAST series, USF scored seven runs over the first four innings to get an early jump on West Virginia. The Bulls scored in the first inning for the 15th time this season, and was the first team on the board for the 22nd time of the year.
Diaz, the leadoff batter, started the bottom of the first by drawing a walk and advancing to second on a passed ball. Junior outfielder Josh LeRoy singled to left center, scoring Diaz, and picking up his 14th RBI of the season.
Otero faced three batters in the second, striking out two Mountaineers and forcing one to ground out to Diaz at shortstop.
The Bulls added another run in the second as junior Joey Angelberger bunted for a base hit and moved around as Daniel reached on a Mountaineer error. Diaz singled to left field, extending his hitting streak to 15 games, scoring Angelberger.
WVU tallied two runs in the third, but USF answered with three of its own in the bottom of the inning.
Maruszak singled to the left side and junior Charles Cleveland reached on an error, then freshman Ryan Soares put down a sac bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Angelberger grounded out to third base, scoring Maruszak.
Daniel stepped to the plate with Cleveland on second base and blasted a shot over the right field fence, his fourth home run of the season.
West Virginia scored one run every other inning for the remainder of the game, notching three runs over six innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, USF scored two more as junior Dexter Butler earned the Bulls' only hit of the two-run inning. LeRoy started the inning reaching on an error by the Mountaineers and three batters later Maruszak reached on a fielder's choice. LeRoy scored on a wild pitch and Butler scored after Soares grounded out to the pitcher.
The Bulls' final run came in the seventh, as Daniel sent a long double to the center field fence, scoring Soares, who had reached on a base hit to the left side.
The Bulls return to Red McEwen Friday at 6 p.m. then wrap up the BIG EAST series with West Virginia at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
