USF Athletics

Hungry for Greatness in Mohl’s First Year, Bulls Open 2018 Against No. 6 UNC

February 15, 2018

Matchup: USF vs. No. 6 UNC
Dates: Friday, Feb. 16 – Sunday, Feb. 18 
Times: 7 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | noon
Location: Tampa, Fla., | USF Baseball Stadium (3,211)
Tickets: USFBullsTix.com
Follow: Stats | Listen | Watch (Friday / Saturday – Sunday)

Game Notes

TAMPA, Feb. 15, 2018 – Ready to make a statement early, the University of South Florida baseball team welcomes sixth-ranked University of North Carolina this weekend for a three-game series to start the 2018 campaign.

The Bulls are looking to build on a 42-19 finish from a year ago, their most wins since 1996. USF earned its second NCAA Regional trip in three seasons and 12^th overall. The Bulls will be skippered by Billy Mohl, who was named the program's seventh head coach in June after serving as the team's pitching coach from 2015-17.

Mohl was the architect behind a staff that quickly turned into one of the nation's premier units. The Bulls set a program record for strikeouts with 620 in 2017 and led the nation in strikeouts per nine innings, while finishing in the top 11 in ERA and hits allowed per nine innings.

Leading the pitching staff will be highly-touted redshirt sophomore left-hander Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.). The flamethrower has been named a preseason All-American by four separate publications, was named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List and is a projected top-10 pick in June's MLB Draft.

McClanahan paced the American Athletic Conference with 12.32 strikeouts per nine innings in 2017, good for eighth in the country. McClanahan finished the year ninth nationally, allowing 5.68 hits per nine innings.

Redshirt senior righty Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.) is back for his final year in the rotation after earning all-conference honors in 2017. Strzelecki was stellar in the second half of the year, tossing a complete game, two-hit shutout at UConn on May 7 before finishing with a 2.42 ERA, second-best in The American. He was named preseason all-conference in December.

The offense is nothing to sniff at, as seven position starters that made up more than 65.0 percent of the output from a season ago return. Senior outfielder Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) led the Bulls with 16 doubles and finished fifth in The American with a .344 average in 2017. The switch hitter was also named preseason all-conference.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bulls and Tar Heels will meet for the first time since 1995 and it will be the 13^th overall matchup Friday night. UNC owns a 7-4-1 edge in the all-time series, having won the most recent encounter, 6-3, in the Cape Coral Regional. The Bulls are 4-4-1 against the Tar Heels in Tampa and have won the last two regular-season meetings.

SCOUTING REPORT
UNC finished 49-14 in 2017 and hosted a regional. The 10-time College World Series participant is loaded with talent again in 2018. The pitching staff is deep and young, led by sophomore starter Gianluca Dalatri and sophomore reliever Josh Hiatt. Both were named preseason All-Americans and freshman All-Americans. Dalatri appeared in 15 games going 7-3 with a 3.34 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 2017. Hiatt recorded 13 saves and posted a 1.90 ERA with 64 strikeouts last season.

Though the offense lost several key members to the draft and graduation, it returns reigning ACC Freshman of the Year Ashton McGee. The outfielder hit .327 with seven home runs and 46 RBI in 2017. Junior outfielder Brandon Riley hit .317 and led the team with five triples and 52 RBI.

NOTABLES

• The Bulls will open the new season at home for the fifth time in the last six seasons. USF is 5-1 in those games.  
• The Bulls are opening against a current member of the ACC for the first time.
• USF has never opened a season outside the state of Florida.  
• The Bulls are 36-16 all-time in season openers.

About USF Baseball
The University of South Florida baseball team is one of the fastest rising programs in the country. The Bulls reached the NCAA Regionals in 2015 for the first time in 13 years and followed that success with a 42-19 record and second NCAA regional trip in three years in 2017. The Bulls earned just their second and third wins over top-five ranked teams with victories against then-No. 3 Florida State and at then-No. 5 Florida during the 2017 season. During the 2017 season, USF reached the 40-win mark for the first time since 1996 and entered the top-25 in the major collegiate baseball polls for the first time since 2013. The USF Baseball program has won five conference titles and the Bulls have made 12 NCAA appearances.