Like USF Baseball on Facebook
Follow @USFBaseball on Twitter

TAMPA (March 15, 2015)— Another impressive pitching performance by freshman Joe Cavallaro led the Bulls to their seventh-straight victory, and second-straight sweep, in a 5-0 shutout over FAMU Sunday afternoon at the USF baseball stadium.

Cavallaro (3-0) had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning before giving up a leadoff single. The freshman would give up just two hits on the day while striking out a career-high seven batters in 7.0 innings of work.

Jordan Strittmatter came on to pitch the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out two to protect the fourth no-hitter of the season for USF.

The Bulls (13-6-1) struck in the bottom of the fourth inning, plating two runs. Back-to-back singles from Kyle Teaf and Luke Borders put runners on the corners with no outs. Buddy Putnam reached on a fielder's choice to score Teaf. Levi Borders reached on a fielder's choice to move his brother to third before a Luke Maglich RBI single drove in the second run of the inning.

In the sixth, Putnam and Maglich singled and Portales walked to load the bases. With Zac Gilcrease at bat, Putnam scored on a wild pitch to tack on another run for the Bulls.

The Bulls would extend their lead even more in the seventh inning.

With one out, Kevin Merrell singled and stole second and looked as though he would be left on base after a fly out by Teaf. With two outs, Luke Borders hit an RBI single to center field scoring Merrell. Putnam followed up by reaching on an error by the first basemen to score Borders from second and put the Bulls up 5-0.

Luke Borders went 2-for-4 on the day with two runs and an RBI. For the series, the sophomore went 6-for-10 with six runs and 2 RBI. Levi Borders also had an outstanding weekend, going 5-for-10 with two runs, two home runs and seven RBI. Maglich went 2-for-3 with an RBI and three stolen bases on four attempts, while Teaf extended his hit streak to nine games and his on-base streak to 19 games. As a team, the Bulls stole six bases on seven attempts, including one double steal. 

On the weekend, the USF pitching staff struck out 38 batters, thanks to a 17 strikeout night on Saturday. Every pitcher who entered recorded at least one strikeout and no one gave up more than three walks. The Bulls gave up just six runs and only two extra base hits.

USF returns to action for two midweek games against Stetson and FIU. The Bulls will face Stetson on Tuesday, March 17, at 6:30 p.m. and FIU Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 p.m.

For more information on the USF baseball team, follow @USFBaseball on Twitter.

- #GoBulls -