TAMPA, FLA., MARCH 13, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team defeated FGCU, 10-3, Tuesday night to begin a five-game stretch at home this week.

The Bulls (11-6) had strong pitching efforts from freshman righty Baron Stuart (Okeechobee, Fla.) and sophomore lefty Noah Yager (Davie, Fla.), who both had career highs for strikeouts with six and seven, respectively.

Both the Eagles (13-3) and Bulls loaded the bases in the first inning, but USF was able to cash in, taking a 1-0 lead after one. Stuart settled down, retiring eight-straight and striking out the side in the second, allowing the USF offense to get hot in the fourth.

The Bulls loaded the bases in the bottom half with no outs on a hit-by-pitch and two walks. With one out, junior David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) singled to shallow right, scoring two. Chris Chatfield (Riverview, Fla.) walked in the next at-bat, then junior JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) smashed a double off the left field wall to clear the bags, making it 6-0.

USF added four runs over the next three innings and led 10-1 after the seventh, putting the game out of reach.

Key Stats
1 – The win marked the first for USF against FGCU in Tampa in the series history, dating back to 2008 (was 0-7).  
4 – USF was third in the nation with 47 doubles heading into the game and hit four more tonight.
10 – The Bulls reached double-digit runs for the sixth time this season.

Notables

• Junior Coco Montes (Miami) went 2-for-3 with a doubles, a run scored and three RBI.
• Dutka went 2-for-4 with his three RBI and junior Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) hit his first home run of the year.
• Junior Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) had double and scored three runs.
• Stuart went 5.0 innings, allowing four hits and one earned, striking out a career-high six. It was the third time this year he went at minimum of 5.0 innings.
• Yager tossed the final 4.0 innings, allowing four hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts.

Up Next
USF is right back it, hosting Jacksonville Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.   

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.