Bulls and Hatters Meet For 170th Time Tuesday In Tampa
TAMPA, MARCH 26, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team hosts Stetson Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
The Bulls (18-7) had a nice start to conference play, taking 2-of-3 from UConn for their fifth-straight series win. Junior
JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) hit .500 last week with four doubles, a triple and six runs scored. He was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday.
Junior catcher
Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) hit .500 against UConn and
David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) hit .385 with two doubles and three runs.
USF's bullpen was magical over the weekend, combining for 11.0 innings, allowing just eight hits and one unearned run with nine strikeouts.
Sophomore
Baron Stuart (Okeechobee, Fla.) will start for the Bulls Tuesday.
SERIES HISTORY
The Bulls hold a slim 85-84 edge in the all-time series against the Hatters, having played each year going back to 1966. USF leads the series in Tampa, 46-41. The two sides each won on the road in last year's home-and-home.
SCOUTING REPORT
Stetson has had a strong season at 19-5, opening the year 14-1 before going 5-4 in the last nine games. Stetson is receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll and ranked in the NCBWA poll. The Hatters played their first road games of the season over the weekend and dropped 2-of-3 at Maryland.
The Hatters boast one of the best pitching staffs in the country, sitting third nationally with a 2.09 ERA. They lead the nation allowing 5.11 hits per nine innings. Righty Joey Gonzalez will make his fifth start Tuesday and sits second in the country with a 0.31 ERA in 29.1 innings. He has nine walks and 30 strikeouts. Closer Brooks Wilson has a 0.44 ERA in 12 appearances with nine saves. He also has 30 strikeouts on the year.
Wilson also hits and is batting a team-high .345, though he only has 55 at-bats in 17 games. He leads Stetson with seven doubles. Jacob Koos is batting .295 with a team-best 20 runs scored.
NOTA-BULLS
- Villar still leads the Bulls and sits third in the conference with a .391 average. His 13 doubles on the year are third in the nation.
- USF leads the country with 74 doubles and now leads the nation with 14 triples on the year.
- The Bulls are tops in the conference with a .472 slugging percentage, a .297 batting average and in scoring (7.0 runs per game).
- Junior Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) hit his sixth triple over the weekend, ranking him second in the country.
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 –
