By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

The Bulls made the Bearcats pay for their mistakes for the second straight night.

A fielding error put Luis Llerena on to lead off the top of the 12th inning and Zac Gilcrease drove him home four batters later to provide USF with the go-ahead run in a 3-2 victory at Cincinnati that clinched a third-straight Big East series win for the Bulls to open the season.

USF (22-10, 7-1) locked up its second straight win over Cincinnati by staying cool under pressure in the bottom half of the 12th, when the Bearcats had the tying run on second with one out. Steven Leasure relieved Nick Gonzalez, got a groundout that sent the runner to third and sealed the victory by getting Matt Williams to fly out.

A costly error by Cincinnati led to a six-run outburst in USF's 8-2 win in Thursday's opener and the Bearcats faltered in the field again with four errors Friday night. The Bearcats took a 2-1 lead into the top of the ninth when a throwing error put James Ramsay on first to start the inning. Another throwing error put two on and Jimmy Falla loaded the bases with a bunt single. Kyle Teaf came through with two outs by working a walk that tied the game up.

The rally got Joey Lovecchio off the hook after the junior gave USF its second quality start of the series. The right-hander gave up two earned runs on six hits in eight innings while striking out eight batters.

Ray Delphey followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Gonzalez (3-1) got the win after keeping Cincinnati away from home plate through another 1 2/3 innings.

Ramsay was one of only two batters in the game to collect multiple hits by going 2-for-5 and raising his season average to .353 while starting every game so far for the Bulls.

USF aims for a series sweep 12 p.m. Saturday when it sends Derrick Stultz (4-1) to the mound back at Marge Schott Stadium.