Hunter Mink mu at UCF 2023
3
Winner South Florida USF 12-16, 2-0 AAC
2
UCF UCF 16-11, 0-2 AAC
Winner
South Florida USF
12-16, 2-0 AAC
3
Final
2
UCF UCF
16-11, 0-2 AAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
South Florida USF 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 7 0
UCF UCF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 8 1

W: Mink, Hunter (5-2) L: Marlowe, Jacob (3-3) S: Skeen, Riley (4)

Game Recap: Baseball |

USF Baseball wins third straight, secures series win at UCF

Hunter Mink logged his third straight quality start as the Bulls earned their first-ever series win in Orlando.

ORLANDO (April 1, 2023) – For the second straight game, the University of South Florida Bulls (12-16, 2-0 AAC) used strong pitching and timely hitting to defeat the UCF Knights (16-11, 0-2 AAC), a 3-2 victory on Saturday night. South Florida secured the series win over UCF, has won three straight overall and four of its last five ballgames.

It marked the first time USF has ever won a series in Orlando since the teams began playing annually in 2014.

Hunter Mink (Palm Harbor) turned in his third consecutive quality start for the Bulls, tossing 6.1 shutout innings to improve to 5-2 this season.

Drew Brutcher (Lakeland) staked H. Mink to a 2-0 lead in the third inning with a two-out home run to the opposite field. USF stretched its lead to 3-0 in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Nelson Rivera (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico). That insurance run proved to be the game-winner for the Bulls.

USF pitching tossed 16 straight shutout innings at UCF in the series before the Knights got on the board with their 50th team home run in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 3-2 affair.

The home run came against Nolan Hudi (Safety Harbor), who relieved H. Mink in the bottom of the seventh and recorded a pair of big outs to continue to blank the Knights.

Chandler Dorsey (Lakeland) relieved Hudi after the UCF home run and retired the side in the eighth inning. Riley Skeen (Pompano Beach) came on in the ninth inning to record his fourth save of the season and second in as many days.

Notable

  • Saturday was the first time USF won consecutive games in Orlando since May 3, 2015 and April 15, 2016 (separate series).
  • H. Mink is 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA (3 ER/18.1 IP) with 15 strikeouts over his last three starts. He has not surrendered a run over his last two outings.
  • Daniel Cantu (Jacksonville) went 2-for-4 with a double on Saturday. Cantu is batting .600 (12-for-20) with eight doubles, a homer and 12 RBI over his last five games, and .436 (17-for-39) with nine doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI over his last 10 games.
  • Brutcher launched his first home run since February 22 at No. 7 Florida.
  • John Montes (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) has hit safely in 18 of his last 23 games.
  • USF improved to 10-0 when leading after six innings this season.   

  

Up Next

The Bulls and Knights conclude their three-game weekend series in Orlando on Sunday, April 2 at 1 p.m.      

About USF Baseball

The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 58th season in 2023 under head coach Billy Mohl (sixth season). The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four since 2015, and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. USF was ranked in the Top 25 by five different publications in the final 2021 polls, checking in as high as No. 16. The Bulls have won five conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro and 1 C-USA). USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, most recently with third baseman David Villar in 2018, and 18 have earned Freshman All-America accolades, most recently Drew Brutcher and Carmine Lane in 2021. Four Bulls were selected in the 2022 MLB Draft. Former 2018 first-round selection, Shane McClanahan, became the program's first-ever MLB All-Star in 2022 and was the starting pitcher for the American League.

– #GoBulls –

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