By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

Todd Brazeal's solid night at the plate was about it for the Bulls in their 2-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Brazeal went 2-for-4 with a home run that got the USF within a run in the seventh inning, but the Bulls' fifth and final hit came in the ninth when James Ramsay singled to lead off the inning.

"We just have to be better. We couldn't hit the ball tonight and we gave up too many at-bats," said head coach Lelo Prado, whose team dropped to 23-12 (8-2 in Big East).

Andrew Barbosa (4-3) suffered from the lack of support after the ace left-hander struck out seven and gave up two earned runs on four hits in six innings. USF's bullpen kept things close when Adrian Puig didn't allow a hit in 1 1/3 innings and Kyle Parker pitched into a double play to give the Bulls a chance in the ninth.

"I thought Barbosa and some of our relievers were solid, but we just didn't score enough runs - simple as that," Prado said.

USF was chasing its best-ever start to a Big East season and headed into the series with an offense that had scored an average of six runs in its past seven games.

"Our guys really have to work hard these next two games to get the job done to stay at the top of this conference," Prado said.

Joey Lovecchio (6-0, 2.58 ERA) gets the start for USF in the second game of the series 3 p.m. Saturday.