TAMPA, MARCH 27, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team dropped Tuesday's midweek tilt to Stetson, 5-3.  

The Hatters (20-5) scored two in the first on three hits and left the bases stranded. The Bulls (18-8, 2-1 The American) answered, quickly cutting into the lead in the bottom half. Senior outfielder Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) doubled to the wall in the left center, moving Coco Montes (Miami) to third, who scored on a wild pitch in the next at-bat.

Pitching for both sides settled down from there, as the next 5.0 innings were scoreless. In the seventh, Stetson put together a two-out rally, adding to the lead to make it 4-1.

After the Hatters made it 5-1 in the eighth, USF trimmed the deficit again in the bottom half. Like the first inning, the top of the order of Montes and Stunkel Jr. got the offense going with a walk and a single, respectively.

Junior David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) hit a sac fly to right in the next at-bat, bringing in Montes. After Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) singled, JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) brought in Stunkel Jr. with a single to left.  

Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but it was all USF would get.  

Key Stats

3 – Stunkel Jr. went 3-for-4 with his 10^th double of the year.
3.0 – Junior righty Alec Wisely (Jacksonville) pitched 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one walk.

Notables

• Freshman Graham Hoffman (Tampa) and sophomore Carson Ragsdale (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) combined to pitch the final 2.1 scoreless innings.
• The Bulls outhit the Hatters 8-5.
• Montes scored two runs and was on base three times (one hit, two walks). 

Quotables

Head coach Billy Mohl Wisely's outing out of the bullpen:
"Wisely looked good. His stuff was a lot sharper, his velocity was up and he did what we needed him to do when we brought him in.

Head coach Billy Mohl on Duke Stunkel Jr.'s bat of late:
"Duke is a huge part of our offense. He's getting it going at the plate and is starting to look like the old Duke that we're used to seeing."

Up Next
The Bulls resume conference play with a three-game series in Tampa against Tulane starting Thursday at 7 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.