CLEARWATER, Fla. (MAY 12, 2016) – The seventh seeded University of South Florida baseball team (24-31) utilized two bases loaded, ninth inning walks to top the No. 2 seeded East Carolina Pirates 4-2 in the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
With the victory, USF has moved into the conference tournament winner's bracket. The Bulls will wait on the victor of the UConn and Memphis matchup and play the winner at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Bright House Field.
“It feels good to win, it's one of the four that you need to win (the conference tournament) this week,” said USF head baseball coach Mark Kingston. “We found a way to get two runs in the ninth and get the lead back. I thought it was encouraging to see guys accept their roles, that we flipped this week, to try and spark things a little bit.”
Tied at two, the Bulls turned five walks in the top of the ninth inning into a pair of runs, snapping a 2-2 tie and earning the win in the team's 2016 conference tournament opener.
East Carolina (34-20-1) threatened first with a two-out single and stolen base in the opening frame but pitcher Brandon Lawson (Brooksville, Fla.) recorded a strikeout to end the threat. Lawson struck out three of the four batters he faced in the first.
The Bulls initial rally came in the third. Infielders Coco Montes (Miami) and Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) worked two-out singles only to see Pirates pitcher Evan Kruczynski post a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.
The USF defense then took over from there. Catcher Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) threw out two would-be base stealers in the third and sixth innings. The Bulls also threw out Charlie Yorgen looking to stretch a fourth leadoff double into a triple, and got Yorgen again in the sixth when his single turned into a rundown for out number one.
The game remained scoreless until the seventh when infielder David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) reached on leadoff double and scored on a Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) sacrifice fly. Then later in the inning, Merrell plated outfielder Cameron Montgomery (Windermere, Fla.) with a base hit up the middle for the two-run advantage.
ECU then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a Kurt Morgan two-run double to left. Even at two, Lawson had a runner at third with two outs but induced a popup to keep the game tied.
Still deadlocked at two, USF turned to reliever Joe Cavallaro (Venice, Fla.) for the bottom of the eighth. ECU capitalized on a fielding error to load the bases with one out but the sophomore right-hander struck out Eric Tyler and got Bryce Harmon to fly out to end the inning.
The Bulls then loaded the bases in the ninth inning and plated two runs on bases loaded walks to outfielder Luke Maglich (Sarasota, Fla.) and Joe Genord to go ahead 4-2.
Leading by two, USF brought in pitcher Phoenix Sanders (Gainesville, Fla.). ECU built a two-out rally, putting the go-ahead run at the plate but Sanders struck out Dwanya Williams-Sutton to preserve the victory.
Lawson fired 7.0 innings, yielding just two runs on seven hits in the no decision. He also struck out eight in the game. Cavallaro (6-3) earns the win with a scoreless eighth inning and Sanders posted his first career save. The Bulls used all three of their weekend starters to limit the Pirates to just two runs on eight hits.
With 10 strikeouts in the game, USF has now amassed 506 strikeouts this season. It is the first time the Bulls have reached that total in back-to-back seasons and just the fifth time in the program's 51 year history.
Seven of the USF starters notched at least one hit each.
Merrell tallied two hits on the day for his 13th multi-hit game of the year.
Luke Borders (Winter Haven, Fla.) advanced his hit streak and on-base streak to seven with a sixth inning single.
The Bulls will now play the winner of UConn and Memphis at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Redshirt junior right-hander Tommy Eveld (Tampa) will make his first start of the season for USF.
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. Five players from that recruiting class are everyday starters in 2016 including outfielder Chris Chatfield (Riverview, Fla.), who leads the team in home runs, and outfielder Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.), who has the fourth most sacrifice bunts in the country. 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), visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information, and purchase tickets for upcoming games at USFBullsTix.com .
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