GREENVILLE, N.C., MAY 14, 2016 – The University of South Florida baseball team (22-28, 7-13 The American) received 8.0 innings of one-run baseball from starting pitcher Brandon Lawson and a go-ahead, three-run, ninth inning home run from designated hitter Luke Borders (Winter Haven, Fla.) in a 5-1 win at No. 21 East Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
It is the third victory for the Bulls against a ranked team this season, who will be playing for a series win on Sunday at 11 a.m.
“Today was a really good team win,” said USF head baseball coach Mark Kingston. “Brandon Lawson set the tone and that was a big home run by Luke Borders to really put it over the top.”
A night after 21 combined runs on Friday, neither the Bulls nor Pirates were able to plate any runs over the first five innings on Saturday.
ECU (31-18-1, 12-7-1) starting pitcher Jimmy Boyd worked around singles in the first and third innings before retiring 10 hitters in a row. Lawson also kept the game scoreless by leaving two men stranded in the first and second innings as catcher Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) also threw out a would be base stealer to cap the fifth.
USF broke the scoreless tie in the sixth. Infielder Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) hit a two-out single to right and Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) ripped a hit to center that rolled past a diving Garrett Brooks. Merrell then came racing around the bases, beating a throw to the plate and giving the Bulls a 1-0 edge.
The advantage stayed with USF until the bottom of the seventh when Turner Brown led off the inning with a solo home run to right.
Tied at one in the ninth, the Bulls built a one-out rally by putting two men on base for Borders, whose three run blast to right field put USF ahead. His fifth home run of the season, all in conference play, pushed the Bulls ahead 4-1. First baseman Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) then added an RBI single later in the inning for a four-run cushion.
Reliever Tommy Eveld (Tampa) then entered the game and pitched a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the series-tying victory.
Lawson earns the win, his fifth of the season. He yielded just one run on three hits. The junior walked three and struck out six in 8.0 innings of work. Lawson leads The American with 97 strikeouts this season.
Borders has now homered in back to back games of the series. The junior also has three runs scored and six RBIs this weekend. His three RBIs on Saturday tied a season-high.
Merrell went 1-for-4 in the game with a run scored. He has now hit safely in 10 straight games and reached base in 16 consecutive contests.
Genord also tallied a hit and an RBI. He now owns a six-game hitting streak and an eight-game on-base streak.
Seven Bulls starters posted at least one hit in the win.
The series concludes on Sunday at 11 a.m. USF will have right-hander Joe Cavallaro (Venice, Fla.) on the bump facing ECU left-hander Jacob Wolfe. The Bulls will be seeking their second series win over a ranked team this season (No. 25 Michigan State).
The next home game for USF will be a midweek tilt with Jacksonville on May 17. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. It is the last $2 Tuesday of the season with discounted food options including hot dogs, popcorn, and soda.
Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com.
The University of South Florida baseball team is one of the fastest rising programs in the country. Under the guidance of first year head coach Mark Kingston, the Bulls reached the NCAA Regionals last season for the first time in 13 years and USF followed that success with a consensus Top 10 recruiting class. The team returns outfielder Kevin Merrell, who was named an NCBWA Freshmen All-American last season after leading the Bulls in batting average (.346), runs (45), hits (83) and stolen bases (21). Senior catcher Levi Borders and senior outfielder Luke Maglich were both selected to the 2016 Preseason All-Conference Team in the AAC. The USF Baseball program has won five conference titles and the Bulls have made 11 NCAA appearances. Follow the baseball team on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.
- #GoBulls -
