TAMPA, Fla. ? The University of South Florida baseball team fell, 5-4, Tuesday night to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at Red McEwen Field.
The Bulls' record drops to 3-4, while the Eagles improve to 8-1.
USF's offensive attack came in the first two innings after falling behind by two after the top of the first. Redshirt freshman Ryan Lockwood spearheaded the Bulls' offensive charge with a lead-off walk. Junior counterparts Brandon Smith and Addison Maruszak followed with a walk and a hit by pitch to fill the bases. Junior Trey Manz then hit a one-out sac fly to score Lockwood and put the Bulls on the board.
In the second inning the Bulls added two more runs, starting with a line-drive single down the right field line by freshman Jonathan Kocsco. Lockwood and Smith then added an RBI apiece with a double each.
The Bulls struck again in the eighth, placing one run on the board. USF scored off of a sacrifice hit from junior Chris Rey, which scored Maruszak from third base.
In the bottom of the ninth, USF lead off with a single up the middle from Koscso and a bunt by senior Charles Cleveland. The Bulls had runners on first and second with no outs but could not advance anyone across home for the one run needed to take the game into extra innings.
The Bulls' pitching did another superb job of finding the strike zone. The USF pitching staff combined for 83 strikes and six strikeouts.
Freshman Zach Pietrzyk had a great outing out of the pen in the seventh, shutting down the Eagles' offensive attack. Pietrzyk threw two innings of relief allowing no hits or runs. Jesuit HS graduate Stephen Hunt threw the ninth inning, striking out one of two and allowing no runs or hits. With two outs in the ninth, sophomore Shawn Sanford came in with a runner on first and struck out his first batter faced to end the inning.
The Bulls go on to face the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Bulls then finish their week with a three-game set against Savannah State at home in Tampa.
