Bulls and Gators Meet in Winner's Game
Matchup: No. 2 USF (42-17, 14-10 The American) vs. No. 1 Florida (43-16, 21-9 SEC)
Date: Saturday, June 3, 2017
First Pitch: 7:04 p.m.
Location: Gainesville, Fla., | Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
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Complete NCAA Bracket
TAMPA, JUNE 3, 2017 – In a rematch of a May 9 meeting with a chance to advance to Sunday's Gainesville Regional championship game on the line, the University of South Florida baseball team takes on Florida tonight at 7:00 p.m.
The encore of a game that saw USF defeat the Gators 15-10 can be seen on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. The contest can be heard on AM 1040 and tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
The second-seeded Bulls earned their 12th regional victory in program history with a dominant opening game against third-seeded Bethune-Cookman on Friday. USF stormed out to a 9-0 lead after the sixth inning and allowed just one run. Head coach Mark Kingston picked up his 100th win at USF.
Junior Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) had a career day with a 4-for-6 effort, three runs scored and two RBI. He and sophomore Chris Chatfield (Riverview, Fla.) each hit two-run homers in the win.
Senior righty Phoenix Sanders (Gainesville, Fla.) tossed seven shutout innings, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Notables
· The Bulls are seeking their first trip to the NCAA Super Regionals. The team has won at least two tournament games five times and can make it six tonight.
· USF was in a similar position two years ago when they won their opening game in the 2015 Gainesville Regional before falling to the Gators in game two.
· The Bulls are now 19-2 when allowing two or fewer runs and 22-1 when scoring 6-9 runs.
· The Bulls have won at least one regional game in each of their last six NCAA Tournament appearances.
· USF is now 6-6 in regional openers.
· The 15 runs scored against Florida on May 9 were a season high and USF walked a season-high 17 times.
· The Bulls walked seven times against the Wildcats on Friday and have now worked 24 base-on-balls at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium this year.
· The Bulls' pitching staff entered the tournament still atop the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3) and inside the top-15 in team ERA (3.25) and hits allowed per nine innings (7.65).
· USF set the single-season program record for most strikeouts on May 18 at UCF with 547. The team currently sits at 609 on the year.
· Redshirt-freshman Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) is in line to start Saturday night. He leads 12.65 strikeouts per nine innings and opponents are hitting just .185 against him.
Scouting Report – Florida
The Gators gave their home fans a slight scare Friday against fourth-seeded Marist. The MAAC champions took an early 1-0 lead and trailed by just a single run in the eighth before a three-run homer from catcher JJ Schwarz sealed a 10-6 win for the regional hosts.
Center fielder Nick Horvath went 2-for-3 with two runs and a RBI and first baseman Christian Hicks went 2-for-3 with two runs. Junior Alex Faedo will get the start for Florida. He leads the team with a 2.80 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 96.1 innings. Closer Michael Byrne earned his 15th save of the season Friday night, but tossed 3.0 innings against the Red Foxes. He lowered his ERA to 1.76 and has 64 strikeouts on the year.
About USF Baseball
The University of South Florida baseball team is one of the fastest rising programs in the country. Under the guidance of head coach Mark Kingston, the Bulls reached the NCAA Regionals in 2015 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 were everyday starters in 2016 including outfielder Chris Chatfield (Riverview, Fla.), who led the team in home runs, and catcher Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.), who was named the 2016 PGCBL Player of the Year. The Bulls won series from two ranked teams in 2016 (No. 21 East Carolina, No. 25 Michigan State, and earned just it's second and third wins over top-five teams with a 4-2 victory against No. 3 Florida State on Feb. 21 and 15-10 win at then-No. 5 Florida on May 9. The win over FSU was part of the best start in program history thanks to a 19-game winning streak, the second-longest in USF Baseball records. USF reached the 40-win mark for the first time since 1996.
The USF Baseball program has won five conference titles and the Bulls have made 12 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. For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.
– #GoBulls –
