TAMPA, Fla. (May 19, 2007) ? Sophomore Addison Maruszak collected his second home run of the weekend, a solo to right field in the third inning, to lead the Bulls to a 5-2 victory over No. 23 St. John's Saturday afternoon at Red McEwen Field in Tampa.
With the win, the Bulls (32-24, 12-13) earn the fifth seed in the 2007 BIG EAST Conference Baseball Championship held in Brooklyn, N.Y. USF will play the fourth-seed Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. Tuesday in KeySpan Park.
In Saturday's game, freshman right handed pitcher Sanford earned his third win of the year, allowing seven hits and two runs in 7.0 innings while recording four strikeouts. Senior RHP Yuri Higgins held the Red Storm hitless, striking out two in 2.0 innings.
Sophomore Braulio Pardo was 2-of-4 with a pair of RBI while junior Joey Angelberger was also 2-of-4 with one run scored.
USF took an early 4-1 lead after four, then matched the Red Storm's single run in the eighth to win the game 5-2.
With two outs in the second inning, senior Nick Cardieri moved Angelberger over to second on a grounder to the left side. Angelberger, who had reached on a single through the left side earlier in the inning, scored as Pardo sent a base hit to right field. Pardo picked up his 15th RBI of the season on the play.
An inning later, the Bulls doubled their score as sophomore Addison Maruszak, a third baseman playing left field in the senior game, recorded his second home run of the week, a solo shot to right field. The bomb was Maruszak's fourth of the year and fifth of his career.
St. John's tallied one run in the top of the fourth, cutting the Bulls' lead in half, 2-1.
USF answered with two runs from a pair of hits and one Red Storm error in the bottom of the fourth.
Angelberger opened the inning with a single up the middle, but was put out at second on a fielder's choice on freshman Ryan Soares. Pardo reached on an error and junior Walter Diaz drew a walk to put two runners on as senior Ty Taborelli stepped to the plate. Taborelli singled to second base, and a collision between the Red Storm middle infielders allowed both Pardo and Soares to score and give USF the three-run lead.
Both teams picked up another run in the eighth, extending the score to 5-2 in favor or USF.
Soares and Cardieri each reached on throwing errors by the Red Storm, then Pardo singled through the right side to score USF's final run.
Prior to the game on Saturday, USF recognized five seniors, including Nick Cardieri, Chris Delaney, Yuri Higgins, Danny Otero and Ty Taborelli.
