TAMPA, MARCH 30, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team recorded 18 hits and hit four home runs to trump Tulane 14-3 Friday night, evening the three game series.     

The Bulls (19-9, 3-2 The American) took a 1-0 lead after the first, then began one of the biggest innings in program history with back-to-back homers from juniors Kyle Phillips (Orlando) and Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) in the second.

After USF loaded the bags, David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) singled to left, scoring Coco Montes (Miami) and Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.), making it 5-0 with no outs. In the next at-bat, Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) crushed the third homer of the inning to center, scoring Villar and Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), making it 8-0.

The Bulls added one more and led the Green Wave (12-16, 3-2 The American) 9-0 after the second.

After Stunkel Jr. walked in the third, Genord added to his monster day with his second homer and seventh of the season, drilling one off the scoreboard. USF had four singles and three more runs in the fourth, capped by another two-RBI single from Villar to make it 14-0.

Tulane finally got on the board with three runs in the seventh. But the cushion was plenty for righty Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.) to work with and help give the Bulls a nice bounce back win.

Key Stats

9 – All nine in the USF starting lineup recorded hits. Six Bulls had multiple hits.
14 – The Bulls had 14 at-bats in the second inning. USF's 14 runs marked the ninth time it scored double-digit runs this year. The 14 runs are the second-most USF has scored in American Athletic Conference play.
18 – The 18 hits were the most for USF since 2016. It was the 17^th time the Bulls recorded double-digit hits this season.
2 – Genord also hit two home runs last season at Florida on May 9 in a 15-10 win.

Notables

• Phillips had a career-high four hits, going 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
• Villar went 3-for-4 with four RBI.
• Genord finished with five RBI and Zech, Dietrich and Stunkel Jr. each matched him with two hits apiece.
• Strzelecki went 6.0 strong innings allowing just four hits. He struck out eight.

Up Next
The Bulls and Green Wave conclude the series in the rubber match, Saturday at 1 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.