TAMPA, APRIL 22, 2018 – Trailing, 2-0, in the bottom of the third, the University of South Florida baseball scored three runs to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish, defeating the University of Central Florida, 4-2, to clinch the weekend's War On I-4 series.

The Knights (27-14, 7-8 The American) jumped in front in the second on three hits, taking a 2-0 lead. The Bulls (26-14, 9-6 The American) answered in a big way in the third. With Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) on first, Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) turned on a 2-1 pitch and crushed his first homer of the season over the right field wall. In the next at-bat,
David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) blasted his second homer in as many days, a shot to center, making it 3-2.

It was all USF needed, as the bullpen was solid once again, allowing just one hit over the final 4.0 innings. The Bulls added another in the fifth to make it 4-2, and went on to take the War on I-4 weekend series.

Key Stats

9 – Villar's homer with his ninth of the season.
40 – USF had 13 strikeouts in the win and totaled 40 K's of UCF players over the weekend.    
10 – The Bulls tallied 10 hits, the 22^nd time they've had double-digit hits this season.  

Notables

• Villar went 2-for-3 with a run and a RBI. He hit his conference-best 17^th double of the year.
• For a second-straight game, Carson Ragsdale (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) went 2-for-4 with a double and a single.
• Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) also went 2-for-4 with a double and a single.
• Sophomore righty Collin Sullivan (Randolph, Mass.) struck out seven over 5.0 innings and improved to 2-0 on the year.
• Sophomore left hander Noah Yager (Davey, Fla.) pitched 3.0 innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one hit with five strikeouts. In two appearances this week, Yager struck out 15.
• Junior Alec Wisely (Jacksonville) got the save, pitching a perfect ninth.

Quotables

Duke Stunkel Jr. on his game-tying homer and the series win:

"We remember what happened in the conference tournament against UCF and at their place to close the season last year. It felt great to take the series and in the second I just wanted to put the team in a good position down by two. That inning changed the game for us."

David Villar talking about the third inning and the team coming back to win the series:

"Duke led us off and gave us that spark that we needed and I was just trying to keep the inning alive. We're confident in our ability to bounce back, knowing that if we lose Friday, we always have a chance to win Saturday and Sunday."

Up Next
The Bulls host Bethune-Cookman in their final home midweek game of the year, Tuesday at 6:30 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.