TAMPA-   Led by a pair of Todd Brazeal home runs and a solid outing by Randy Fontanez, the University of South Florida cruised to a 8-4 win over West Virginia in the Bulls BIG EAST opener Friday evening at the USF Baseball Stadium.

Brazeal broke out of an 0-22 skid in a big way, as he became the first Bull to hit two homers in a game since 2009 by capping off a five run third inning with a three-run homer to left and then leading off the fifth with a solo shot.  

On the night, Brazeal collected three hits and drove in a season-high four runs.

Following the Bulls five spot in the third inning, West Virginia answered in the top of the fourth with a run, but the Bulls came right back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the fifth with an RBI single by Junior Carlin scoring Andrew Longley who led off the inning  with a walk.

Bulls starter Randy Fontanez was solid on the evening turning in a yeomen-like 8.0 innings of work to pick up his second win of the season.

Fontanez used good control through the night getting ahead of the batters and relying on his defense to make plays. Of the 110 pitches he tossed on the night, 78 found the strike zone. He scattered eight hits on the night but did not walk a batter while fanning six.

Uncommon to Fonantez, he was able to lean on some early run support to lessen the damage  of the four runs he gave up on the night.  Three of the four runs were earned.

Fontanez has not walked a batter in his last 39.1 innings of work.

Brazeal's second homer of the night extended the Bulls lead to 7-2 to lead off the fifth. The Bulls would score in four straight innings starting with the five run third, but West Virginia would not go down easily.

West Virginia rallied for two runs in the sixth and had the potential to close the gap more,  but Fontanez escaped a two-on, no out situation to limit the damage.

USF closed out the scoring on the night in the sixth by manufacturing an eighth run. With one out, a Luis Llerena single followed by a Jonathan Koscso double put runners on second and third and for the second time on the evening Carlin executed a safety squeeze bunt to perfection scoring Llerena from third and picking up his third RBI of the night.

Koscso joined Brazeal as the only Bulls with multiple hits as the duo combined for half of the Bulls 10 knocks on the evening. USF out hit West Virginia, 10-8, on the night.

The Bulls will look to make it two in a row and take the series when the two teams do it again Saturday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the USF Baseball Stadium.

Game Notes
Tonight's attendance is 1,497... Tonight's game was played in 2:20... USF is 6-0 in BIG EAST openers and 5-0 under Lelo Prado... USF is 3-1 this season in games on Bright House Sports Network... The home runs for Brazeal were the 12^th and 13^th of his career... The three runs driven in for Carlin tie a career high... He has driven in three runs four times prior... Randy Fontanez is now 3-0 against West Virginia in his career... USF is now 12-4 against the Mountaineers and 6-1 in Tampa...  The three hit game for Brazeal is the 10^th of his career... Fontanez moved into 8^th place on the Bulls career strikeout list with 255... Kevin Quackenbush has not given up a run in his last 10 appearances or a run in his last six outings... Brazeal's two homer's marked the first time a Bull hit two bombs in a game since Stephen Hunt Accomplished the feat in 2009.