No. 24 Bulls Host Bethune-Cookman in Final Home Midweek Game
Matchup: USF (26-14, 9-6 The American) vs. Bethune-Cookman (17-24, 11-7 MEAC)
Date: Tuesday, April 24
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Tampa, Fla. | USF Baseball Stadium (3,211)
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TAMPA, April 23, 2018 – The newly ranked University of South Florida baseball team has its final home midweek game of the season Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. when Bethune-Cookman comes to Tampa.
The Bulls (26-14, 9-6 The American) went 3-1 last week and took 2-of-3 from UCF over the weekend. At 26-14 and a No. 21 RPI, USF entered the top-25 in three different polls Monday. D1Baseball has USF ranked 24
th, Perfect Game at No. 23 and Baseball America as high as No. 20.
Sophomore
Carson Ragsdale (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) went 2-for-4 Saturday and Sunday and hit .500 over the weekend. Junior
David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) hit .375 with two runs, a double and a pair of clutch home runs. He gave the Bulls what turned out to be the game-winning homer late in Saturday's 5-4 win over the Knights. In the third inning of Sunday's 4-2 win, he followed a
Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) two-run shot with another solo blast to make it 3-2.
Sophomore lefty
Noah Yager (Davie, Fla.) was sensational out of the bullpen last week, logging 8.1 scoreless innings with just five hits allowed and 15 strikeouts. He got the win against UNF on Tuesday, going 5.1 innings with a career-best 10 strikeouts. He then pitched 3.0 innings in relief on Sunday with five strikeouts. Yager was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday.
Freshman righty
Baron Stuart (Okeechobee, Fla.) will again make the midweek start. He's 2-2 with 19 strikeouts this season. It'll be his eighth start of the year.
SERIES HISTORY
The Bulls and Wildcats will meet for the 68
th time on Tuesday. The Bulls own a 60-17 edge in the series. USF is 10-7 against Bethune-Cookman in the last 17 contests since 2011. Both teams split in the 2017 Gainesville Regional. USF defeated the Wildcats 9-1 to open postseason play, but Bethune defeated the Bulls 6-4 in the elimination game.
The Bulls had their largest margin of victory of 2018 in the season's first meeting on Feb. 28 in Daytona Beach, 16-1. USF had eight extra-base hits in the win with five doubles, two homers and a triple. Villar went 3-for-6 with a double, home run and a single. He had two runs scored and two RBI. Junior
Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI
SCOUTING REPORT
The Wildcats are led offensively by Nate Sterijevski, hitting .307 with 25 runs scored, five doubles and 18 RBI. Ian Claudio is hitting .322, though he only has 59 at-bats. Danny Rodriguez leads the team with eight doubles and six home runs.
Junior righty Jordan Pinto will throw for Bethune-Cookman Tuesday and make his third start. In 12 appearances, he has a 3.82 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 30.2 innings of work. Ivan Coutinho has been the Wildcats' top reliever with a 2.66 ERA and 35 strikeouts to only eight walks in 23.2 innings.
NOTA-BULLS
- Villar still leads the Bulls with a .385 average and his 17 doubles, ranking ninth nationally.
- The Bulls are tops in The American with a .293 team average, a .463 slugging, 258 runs scored, 403 hits, 104 doubles and 14 triples. They sit third nationally in doubles and 14th in triples.
- After striking out 40 UCF batters over the weekend, USF's pitching staff ranks sixth nationally with 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
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 –
