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TAMPA (March 7, 2015)— Highlighted by an Austin Lueck three-run home run, the USF baseball team clinched the series against Seton Hall with an impressive 7-3 victory, Saturday night at the USF baseball stadium.

“I told the guys that was a team win,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “You want to have team wins. Sometimes the pitching carries you. A lot of our wins this year the pitching has carried us. Tonight was a big full-team win. You like to see that.”

Lueck fired a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach for Seton Hall. Levi Borders and Kyle Teaf both reached after being hit by pitches to put two on for Lueck. On a 2-0 count, he cranked a deep ball well over the left field wall for his second home run of the season and fourth of his career.

“He got a good pitch to hit, he was ready for it, and he put his best swing on it,” Kingston said. “When he squares it up like that, the ball can go a long way.”

Zac Gilcrease and Buddy Putnam continued the two-out rally, each adding a run of their own. Gilcrease reached on a two-strike single to the shortstop, stole second and came home on a Putnam RBI single. A batter later, Putnam scored on a Nik Alfonso RBI single to put USF up 7-1.

The Bulls took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a pair of errors by Seton Hall. With one out, Putnam doubled down the right field line to give USF its third double of the night. After a fly out by Alfonso, Kevin Merrell reached on an error, advancing Putnam and placing runners on the corners.

Teaf came to the plate and launched a full count single to centerfield to drive in Putnam to tie the game. An error by the left fielder allowed for Merrell to score from first for another run and the lead.

Seton Hall struck in the first inning, scoring an unearned run on an RBI groundout. The Pirates would tack on two more in the ninth on an RBI single and RBI groundout.

Teaf had himself a night, going 2-for-2 with two RBI. The senior also extended his on-base streak to a team-leading 14 games. Lueck went 2-for-4, with three RBI, courtesy of his home run.

“It was one of those things where you see it for so long that you don't want to get ahead of it too much,” Lueck said. “You've got to be patient and make sure you get behind it.”

Mulholland (2-2) earned the win, giving up just two hits and one unearned run in six innings of work. The righty struck out seven, just one shy of his single-game career-high.  Michael Farley pitched two innings in relief, giving up just one hit while striking out three.

USF pitchers have now combined to strike out 139 batters, thanks to the 11 strikeouts by Mulholland, Farley and Jordan Strittmater, coupled with Jimmy Herget's 12 from Friday night. That number handily leads the American Athletic Conference.

The Bulls and Pirates will meet back on the diamond for the final game of the series on Sunday, March 8, at 1 p.m.

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

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