TAMPA - The University of South Florida baseball team (6-8) was shutout against Evansville, 6-0, in Game 1 of a day night doubleheader at the USF Baseball Stadium Saturday afternoon.

It would be a tough afternoon for Bulls starter RHP Randy Fontanez. Fontanez battled through 7.0 innings, but was touched up for nine hits, giving up five runs. He did not walk a batter and struck out seven.

The Purple Aces did most of their damage against the Bulls' ace in the third inning. The Purple Aces pushed across four runs in the inning which would prove to be all they would need.

With the loss, Fontanez falls to 1-2 on the season.

At the plate, it was just one of those days for the Bulls where everything they hit hard seemed to be hit at the Evansville defense. The Bulls were outhit, 10-7, on the afternoon.

The Bulls best scoring chance came in their portion of the fourth. A leadoff double by Todd Brazeal and a single by Sam Mende put runners at the corners with nobody out, but the Bulls could not capitalize as the next three batters were retired in order to end the threat.
 
Freshman James Ramsay continued his success at the plate, picking up three hits on the day and extending his hit streak to nine games. Ramsay did not drive in a run thus snapping his streak of games with a run driven at eight. The three hits on the afternoon ties a career for the Brandon native.

Evansville added a run in the seventh and eighth innings to extend the score to 6-0 which would prove to be the final outcome.

The Bulls will look to take the series when LHP Nick Gonzalez takes the mound in Game 2 of the doubleheader.  

Game Notes
The game was played in 2:15... The runs given up by Fontanez in the third inning snapped a streak of 17.2 innings of scoreless ball thrown by the senior... Brazeal has hit safely in six straight games... Chad Taylor made his second consecutive start at third base... Fontanez threw a season-high 103 pitches (80 strikes)