TAMPA, MARCH 23, 2018 – The USF baseball team scored three runs in the eighth to trim a 6-1 lead, but ultimately dropped The American opener to UConn Friday night at home, 6-4.
It was a quick first inning for both sides, as the highly anticipated pitching matchup of lefty All-Americans
Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) and Tim Cate went as scripted with five combined strikeouts.
In the second, the Huskies (11-7) got to McClanahan with a solo homer, the first earned run allowed by the ace all year. UConn would add one more before loading the bags with one out. Then Anthony Prato hit a grand slam to make it 6-0.
The Bulls (16-7) hit doubles with a runner on first in the second, third and fourth, and had a pair of men at second and third in all three frames. With the bases loaded in the fourth,
Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) hit a sac fly to score USF's first run.
Both bullpens were solid over the next three innings until the bottom of the eighth, when junior
David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) hit his 14
th double of the year to lead off the inning. Two batters later,
JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) doubled, scoring Villar. In the next at-bat, junior
Kyle Phillips (Orlando) smashed a homer to right, making it 6-4.
UConn turned to its closer after the home run and immediately got out of the inning, then a 6-4-3 double play ended the game in the ninth.
Key Stats
3 – Villar and Dutka each finished 3-for-4 with a combined three runs scored.
2 – Phillips went 2-for-4 and his two-run shot in the eighth was his second USF homer.
5 – The Bulls led the nation with 66 doubles heading into the weekend and hit five more tonight. Dutka and Villar each had two, while Phillips had the other.
Notables
- Sophomore lefty Noah Yager (Davie, Fla.) came in to relieve McClanahan in the fifth and was lights out. He pitched a scoreless 5.0 innings allowing just four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Up Next
The Bulls and Huskies will meet for game two Saturday at 6:30 p.m. It'll be redshirt senior
Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.) on the mound for USF and sophomore lefty Mason Feole going for the Huskies.
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.
– #GoBulls –
