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Up Next:
USF at Louisville Game 1: L, 2-1
USF at Louisville Game 2: L, 4-3
USF at Louisville | May 16 | 1 p.m. | Louisville, Ky. | | |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. ? The University of South Florida baseball team dropped the first game of its double-header to Louisville on Friday, and now trail the Cardinals by a half game in the BIG EAST Conference.
The Bulls have to win the second game of the day in order to win their first BIG EAST regular season title in program history.
After taking the 1-0 lead in the fifth, UofL scored a pair in both the seventh an eighth innings. The Bulls scored two runs in the ninth inning to cut the Louisville lead to one, but were not able to tie the game, and the Bulls dropped to second in the BIG EAST standings.
USF entered the weekend with a chance to win the BIG EAST regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament next week with one win out of the three games.
The Bulls dropped game one 2-1 and game two 4-3 and will take on the Cardinals in both teams' regular season finale Friday night.
The 2008 USF softball team won the BIG EAST regular season title, the first in school history, and the baseball team would add the second if they can avoid the sweep Friday.
Peter Brotons had three hits for the Bulls during game two, but was the only USF player with more than one hit.
USF led the game in the seventh 1-0, before the Cardinals added a pair of runs in the seventh and the eighth. The Bulls responded with a pair of runs of their own in the ninth, but were unable to regain the lead.
Shawn Sanford started the game for the Bulls and pitched 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out five. He took home the loss, his third of the year.
BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year candidate Randy Fontanez came in in relief of Sanford in the seventh inning and allowed two runs on one hit.
USF took its first lead of the weekend in the fifth inning as Brotons punched his second leadoff single through the left side then moved over after a hit by pitch to Ryan Lockwood. A sac bunt from Jonathan Koscso moved him to third, and he scored on a sac fly by Todd Brazeal.
Louisville scored a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to take the 4-1 lead.
In the seventh, the Cardinals registered four consecutive hits off of Sanford to score a pair of runs before Fontanez came in for relief, retiring three in a row.
An inning later, Fontanez dealt a two-out walk then a home run over the left field fence to give Louisville the 4-1 edge.
The Bulls got a leadoff single from Junior Carlin in the ninth inning and after a Brandon Smith double and a Sam Mende single, he scored. Smith then scored on a Brotons sacrifice fly to bring up Ryan Lockwood. Lockwood grounded into a fielder's choice to end the rally and the game.
Game Notes
With 1 win, 2 losses - USF wins the BIG EAST. Despite possibly being tied with West Virginia at 19-8, who would have to sweep Pittsburgh, the Bulls hold the tie breaker over WVU after a sweep of the Mountaineers April 24-26. Both teams would be named Big East Champions, but USF would get the higher seed in the tournament.
With 0 wins, 3 losses - USF falls to 18-9 (.667), UofL improves to 19-7 (.731) to win the league. If West Virginia sweeps Pitt, the Mountaineers step into second with a 19-8 record (.704). St. John's also comes into play if they sweep Notre Dame, which would give the Red Storm an 18-9 (.667) record, tying with USF. Since the teams did not play this season, that tie-breaker is determined by each team's combined winning percentage versus the teams ranked higher in the standings. USF would also prevail in this situation, going 3-3 with WVU and UofL while St. John's went 2-4 with WVU and UofL.
Prado and USF Baseball Closing in on Milestones
Coach Lelo Prado is closing in on some career milestones, including 100 USF wins, 700 career wins and 1200 games coached. He is currently at 97 USF wins, 695 career victories and 1197 total games coached.
As a program, USF baseball has played 2297 career games and has 1282 all-time victories.
USF All-Time Conference Titles
With one victory over Louisville, the Bulls will clinch their seventh regular season conference championship. The first came in 1981 when the Bulls went 5-3 in Sun Belt play, good for a tie for first. USF has won a regular season championship in three different conferences (Sun Belt, Metro and Conference USA). If the Bulls are able to win at Louisville this weekend to capture the BIG EAST regular season crown, it would be the fourth conference in which USF has finished on the top.
