Bulls Head to Jacksonville For Wednesday Clash
Matchup: USF (7-5) at Jacksonville (7-3)
Date: Wednesday, March 7
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Jacksonville, Fla., | John Sessions Stadium (1,500)
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GAME NOTES
TAMPA, MARCH 6, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team brings its hot offense to Jacksonville for a Wednesday matchup, set to begin at 6 p.m.
The Bulls (7-5) won their second series of the year, taking 3-of-4 from Columbia at home over the weekend. The offense was red hot, recording a .356 average, 22 doubles, two triples, two homers and a .593 slugging percentage.
Junior third baseman
David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) was on a tear over the weekend, hitting .643 with five doubles, two homers and eight RBI. He hit .600 in five games last week with 10 RBI, six doubles, three home runs and seven runs scored. Nine of his 12 hits were extra-base knocks. He was named The American Player of the Week on Monday.
Lefty All-American
Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) earned his second American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honor after his third-straight 6.0 inning outing. He struck out a season-high 12 batters against Columbia on Friday and has yet to allow an earned run through 18.0 innings pitched.
SERIES HISTORY
The Bulls and Dolphins have a long history going back to 1966, and Wednesday marks the 109th meeting. USF holds a slim 56-52 edge in the series. Jacksonville owns a 26-14 lead at home. Over the last 20 meetings, the Bulls have won 11 times. The Dolphins defeated USF, 11-9, at JU last year.
SCOUTING REPORT
The Dolphins are 7-3 with a Tuesday night game against rival North Florida looming. JU opened the season impressively, taking 2-of-3 from 2017 Winston Salem Regional No. 2-seed West Virginia. Jacksonville earned a series sweep against a talented Rhode Island team over the weekend.
The Dolphins are led by Ruben Someillan at the plate with a .289 average and Chris Lehane, hitting .296, as the latter leads the team with nine RBI. Rookie reliever Chris Mauloni has four saves on the year, ranking 11
th in the country. Righty Spencer Stockton will get his second start of the year Wednesday. He has a 3.00 ERA in 6.0 innings of work and has eight strikeouts.
NOTA-BULLS
- Freshman righty Baron Stuart (Okeechobee, Fla.) will make his second start after going 5.0 strong innings at Bethune-Cookman last week.
- Villar is hitting a team-high .425 and his seven doubles rank fifth nationally.
- USF leads the country with 39 doubles on the year. It hit eight on Sunday, the most it has hit in a game over the last six seasons.
- The Bulls have scored 69 runs and have 85 hits over the last seven games.
- Eight Bulls hit over .300 last week, including junior Kyle Phillips (Orlando), who had three doubles in a 13-1 win on Friday. It marked the first time since 2013 that a Bull hit three doubles in a game.
- USF tallied a season-high 17 hits on Sunday, the most it has recorded in a game since 2016.
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 –
