TAMPA, Fla., MAY 20, 2016 – The University of South Florida baseball team (23-30, 8-15 The American) was defeated 7-3 by UConn (32-22,13-9) on Saturday afternoon.
Outfielder Cameron Montgomery (Windermere, Fla.) hit a solo home run in the contest as designated hitter Luke Borders (Winter Haven, Fla.) provided a pair of RBI singles in the loss.
USF pitcher Brandon Lawson (Brooksville, Fla.) and UConn starter Tim Cate kept the opposing offenses scoreless over the first three innings.
The Huskies then pulled ahead with an Aaron Hill two-run single in the fourth.
Trailing 2-0, the Bulls rallied in the bottom of the inning. USF received back-to-back singles from outfielder Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) and Maglich to begin the frame but a strikeout and double play prevented the Bulls from cutting into the deficit.
UConn increased the lead with a run in the sixth and seventh innings.
Down 4-0, USF posted their first run when Maglich led off the seventh with a double and scored on a Borders RBI single up the middle.
The Huskies then responded by tacking on a run in the eighth.
Behind 5-1, Montgomery's solo home run in the bottom half brought the Bulls within three. USF then followed up the home run with two, one-out singles to bring the tying run to the plate. Borders plated another run with a single up the middle but UConn reliever Connor Ruotolo induced a popup to leave the tying run at first.
Holding a 5-3 lead, the Huskies recorded two more runs in the ninth to claim a four run victory.
Lawson (5-5) threw 6.0 innings in the defeat. He allowed just three runs in the game for his team-high 11th quality start of the year. Lawson also recorded his 100th strikeout of the season in the second inning and his 103 strikeouts lead The American this year.
Borders has the most multi-RBI games on the team this season with eight. He also advanced his hit streak to five.
Maglich notched his 13th multi-hit game this spring. The senior also extended his on-base streak to six.
Infielder Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) utilized an eighth inning single to move his hit streak to 13 and on-base streak to 19.
Zech matched his career-best with two hits on the afternoon.
The Bulls will now look to win the series in the regular season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, USF will honor pitcher Michael Clarkson (Oldsmar, Fla.), pitcher Hayden Kelley (Tampa), pitcher Brad Labozzetta (Lakeland, Fla.) and Luke Maglich as part of the team's Senior Day festivities.
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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.
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