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CLEARWATER, Fla. (Feb. 14, 2015)—After scoring the winning run in the season opener on an RBI single by his brother, junior Levi Borders continued the family hot streak by homering in the first inning of Saturday's game against the Louisville Cardinals.

Unfortunately, the two-run homer would be the only highlight of the night for the Bulls as they were defeated by No. 7 Louisville, 7-3, in the second game of the USF Opening Weekend Challenge.

"I told the team in the first inning, we threw strikes and we won that inning, 2-0," head coach Mark Kingston said. "Then if you look at the last five innings we threw strikes, played good defense and won those five innings 1-0. But in the middle, we helped Lousiville out and they took advantage of it."

The Cardinals (2-0) cut into the Bulls' (1-1) lead in the second inning on an unearned run with two outs. The Bulls were able to get out of the inning without any further damage but an error-plagued third inning put the Bulls in a hole they couldn't crawl out of.

Louisville took advantage of a throwing error and failed pickoff attempt, advancing leftfielder Corey Ray to third. The Cardinals then used two singles, two wild pitches and a triple to bring home four runs on five hits.

The Bulls were still in striking distance of the Cardinals after senior RHP Casey Mulholland was replaced by Cody Hernandez, after giving up seven hits and two walks in just three innings. Hernandez gave up a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the fourth before USF football wide receiver, Tommy Eveld, came in to help quiet Louisville.

Eveld joined the Bulls shortly before the season started and proved to be a valuable addition as he threw four innings, striking out five and allowing no hits.

"He just picked up baseball after being off it for about seven years," Kingston said. "When you can pitch four shutout innings against a team that was just in the College World Series, that doesn't happen very often."

With Eveld on the mound silencing bats, the Bulls offense almost came through with a chance to get within one of Louisville in the top of the fifth. The Cardinals' Anthony Kidston walked senior Kyle Teaf, freshman Kevin Merrell, and Luke Borders to load the bases for the Bulls with two outs and Luke Maglich up to bat.

Maglich couldn't repeat his fourth inning double and the Bulls were left stranded. However, Daniel Portales, pinch hitting for Buddy Putnam, singled and scored in the sixth on an RBI single by Zac Gilcrease to slightly cut into the Cardinals lead.

Ryan Valdes closed out the game for the Bulls, notching two strikeouts and only allowing one hit in one inning of work.

USF finishes out opening weekend against Alabama State Sunday, Feb. 15 before hosting Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m. for the home opener.

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