TAMPA, APRIL 21, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team got even on its rival University of Central Florida with a 5-4 win Saturday, forcing a rubber match in the War On I-4 series.
The Bulls (25-14, 8-6 The American) tallied their first runs of the series in the third innings, as
Carson Ragsdale (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and
Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) led off the inning with consecutive singles. Two batters later,
Coco Montes (Miami) doubled to left, scoring Ragsdale. After a passed ball allowed Zech to score and Montes to move to third,
David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) made it 3-0 with a sac fly to center.
Redshirt senior
Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.) had gotten loose prior to the original start time, but a two-hour delay pushed the start time back to 8:30. He was locked in through four with just one hit allowed and seven strikeouts.
The Knights (27-13, 7-7 The American) got to Strzelecki in the fifth with three runs on four hits, making it a brand new ballgame. But USF's captain Villar put the team on his back in the seventh. With Montes at second, Villar drove a 1-1 pitch the opposite way and over the scoreboard to put the Bulls ahead 5-4.
Andrew Perez (Orlando) came in with two outs in the eighth and finished the job to even the series.
Key Stats
8 – Villar's homer with his eighth of the season.
2 – Ragsdale matched a career-best with two hits. It was the second time this week he went 2-for-4.
5 – This will be USF's fifth-straight rubber match to open conference play.
Notables
- Montes finished 1-for-3 with two runs and a RBI.
- Strzelecki struck out eighth over 5.0 and walked only one.
- Junior lefty Kevin King (Orlando) tossed 2.0 innings, allowing only one hit in relief.
Up Next
The War on I-4 series will be decided Sunday 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.
– #GoBulls –
