USF Athletics

USF at Stetson Moved to Wednesday in DeLand

April 09, 2018

Matchup: USF (21-11, 5-4 The American) at Stetson (24-8, 1-2 ASUN)
Date: Wednesday, April 11
Time: 3:30 p.m.  
Location: DeLand, Fla. | Melching Field at Conrad Park (2,500)
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TAMPA, April 10, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team travels to DeLand for a second meeting with Stetson, Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN3. The Game was originally slated for a 6:30 first pitch Tuesday, but expected rain forced the action to be moved to Wednesday.

The Bulls (21-11, 5-4 The American) dropped their first weekend series since the opening week against then-No. 6 UNC, losing 2-of-3 at Houston. USF took Friday's game 9-6, then fell victim to a walkoff in Saturday's 1-0 defeat before losing a high-scoring affair on Sunday, 9-8.  

Junior David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) hit .500 over the weekend with two runs scored, two homers and six RBI. He had two home runs in a game for the first time in his career to help lead the Bulls in Friday's win. JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) hit .455 in the three games with two doubles and three runs. Both Villar and Dutka hit in each game of the weekend.  

USF tallied double-digit hits for the 18^th time this season on Sunday with a single-game program record 14 singles. Freshman righty Baron Stuart (Okeechobee, Fla.) will start for the Bulls Wednesday. He's 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA.

SERIES HISTORY

Stetson holds a slim 86-84 edge in the all-time series against the Bulls, having played each year going back to 1966. USF leads the series in Tampa, 46-42. The two sides each won on the road in last year's home-and-home and the Hatters held true to that trend, defeating USF on the road back on March 27, 5-3. Stetson leads the series in DeLand, 43-37.

Senior outfielder Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) went 3-for-4 in that first matchup with Stetson with a run and a double. Junior Coco Montes (Miami) had two runs scored in that game. Junior righty Alec Wisely (Jacksonville) tossed 3.0 scoreless innings in relief on March 27.

SCOUTING REPORT

The Hatters began a four-game win streak when they defeated USF on March 27. Stetson has lost three of the last four, but still enter Wednesday's contest at 24-8 and one of the top teams in the ASUN. Righty Joey Gonzalez will start against the Bulls on Tuesday. He leads the team with a 1.49 ERA and is 6-2 with 49 strikeouts. The Hatters are second nationally with a 2.46 team ERA and lead the nation with 6.14 hits allowed per nine innings. Brooks Wilson is tops in the country with 13 saves.

The offense has fallen off slightly since the March 27^th meeting. Mike Spooner and Jorge Arenas each had two hits in that game with a combined three runs. Arenas had three RBI in the win and is tied for the team lead with 19. Nico Torino is batting .365, but has played in just 21 games with 63 at-bats. Jacob Koos has been Stetson's most consistent bat with a .306 average and team-highs of nine doubles, two triples, two homers and 25 runs scored.     

NOTA-BULLS

• Villar still leads the Bulls with a .379 average and is seventh in the country with 14 doubles.
• USF is third in the country with 85 doubles and 14 triples.  
• The Bulls are tops in the conference with a .467 slugging percentage, a .298 batting average and in scoring (6.9 runs per game). 
• Junior Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) hit his eighth home run of the season on Friday at Houston and leads The American. He's hitting .333 this season with 32 RBI.
• Kyle Phillips (Orlando) has nine hits over the last five games and is hitting .474 with a double, home run, six runs and two RBI during the stretch.
   

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.