TAMPA, APRIL 22, 2025 – The USF baseball trajectory has been encouraging.
 
With four weeks remaining in the regular season, the Bulls have shown significant improvement, earning second place in the American Athletic Conference standings at 22-15 (10-5 AAC).
 
USF's exciting style was typified by the weekend series triumph against the Charlotte 49ers when the Bulls registered back-to-back walk-off victories. Then, they were defeated 5-3, but not before bringing the winning run to the plate after entering the ninth inning with a five-run deficit.
 
According to first-year USF head coach Mitch Hannahs, the Bulls remain a work in progress.
 
"In terms of our identity, I think we're not quite as blue-collar as we want,'' Hannahs said. "I think that needs to be our identity.
 
"But you have to be careful with that. Sometimes, the guys don't understand that it's just being gritty without trying to do too much. I still feel like the times when we have struggles, it's not so much that we're flat or we're not in it, but we just have guys who haven't played a lot of everyday ball. So they press and try to do too much.''
 
Hannahs has been mostly pleased with USF's effort. At times, though, the learning curve has been steep.
 
"We're still learning,'' said Hannahs, who arrived at USF after 11 seasons and five NCAA Regional appearances at his alma mater, Indiana State University. "You're only as good as the next guy (pitcher) you face out there, the next team on your schedule.
 
"I think we do understand that we can play with anybody. But on the other side of that coin, we can lose to anybody. And I think that's the tough thing at this level. The maturity is getting better. It's not where we want to be, but there's progress in the maturity of handling winning and handling losing.''
 
Hannahs has found an ace starter in Ole Miss transfer left-hander Corey Braun (5-2, 2.90 ERA, 68 strikeouts, and just 20 walks in 68 1/3 innings) but has experimented with several combinations in the starting staff and bullpen.
 
Offensively, first baseman Sebastian Greico (.280, 12 home runs, 36 RBIs, 1.023 OPS) has become one of the AAC's top power hitters, and he's making a realistic run at USF's single-season homer mark (21 by Ross Gload in 1996).
 
Right fielder Marcus Brodil (.365), second baseman Matt Rose (.330), designated hitter Rafael Betancourt (.310), and second baseman Carlos Jacome (.301) have provided offensive consistency. Meanwhile, center fielder Ryan Pruitt (.297, team-leading 13 stolen bases), left fielder Jackson Mayo (.254, six homers), catcher Lance Trippel (.254, five homers), and shortstop Bradke Lohry (.242, team-leading 30 runs, nine stolen bases).
 
The highs and lows of USF baseball were on display during the weekend series against Charlotte.
 
In Thursday night's opener, USF was trailing by one and down to its final out. But Brodil delivered a clutch RBI double to force extra innings, and Betancourt walked it off with an RBI single in the 10th as the Bulls defeated the 49ers 5-4.
 
On Friday, it was a walk-off replay as Lohry smashed a two-run single in the ninth, lifting the Bulls past the 49ers 7-6. Braun had a career-high 11 strikeouts in an eight-inning stint.
 
Saturday, the Bulls got a competitive starting outing from Jack Nedrow (seven innings, two earned runs allowed, no walks, six strikeouts), but USF's offense sputtered until a three-run ninth inning, and the defense was spotty.
 
"No question, when you come back late in games, it certainly is uplifting for a club,'' Hannahs said. "But the disappointing thing was we got a good pitching performance (from Nedrow), and we didn't play as solid defensively as we usually do, so that gave them a few runs that ended up costing us late.
 
"It's a battle every time out at this level. You've got to play well in all phases of the game to give yourself a chance. These are things we're learning, and we're getting better at. But we're not there yet.''
 
The Bulls will head to Daytona Beach on Wednesday night for a non-conference game against Bethune-Cookman University before resuming AAC play Friday through Sunday at Wichita State.
 
USF returns home on May 2-4 for an AAC series against the first-place team, the UTSA Roadrunners (30-10, 12-3).
 
Hannahs at the Helm:
Mitch Hannahs was named South Florida's eighth head coach in program history on June 8, 2024, after compiling 355 wins over 11 seasons at Indiana State. The 2023 ABCA NCAA DI Midwest Region Coach of the Year guided the Sycamores to six conference titles and five NCAA Regionals, guiding ISU to a spot in the 2023 NCAA Super Regional. He takes over a USF team that went 26-29 last year and features 24 new players.
 
60th Year of USF Baseball:
The South Florida Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and will enter its 60th campaign in 2025. The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. USF has won 11 conference titles - five tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro, and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro, and 1 C-USA). Bulls baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, and 19 Bulls have earned Freshman All-America accolades.
 
Tickets:
Tickets to watch Bulls baseball at the USF Baseball Stadium may be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls or clicking HERE.
 
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About USF Baseball
The South Florida Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and will enter its 60th campaign in 2025. Mitch Hannahs was named South Florida's eighth head coach in program history on June 8, 2024, after compiling 355 wins over 11 seasons at Indiana State. The 2023 ABCA NCAA DI Midwest Region Coach of the Year guided the Sycamores to six conference titles and five NCAA Regionals. The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. 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, and 19 Bulls have earned Freshman All-America accolades. USF has had 131 MLB Draft Picks. Former 2018 first-round draft pick Shane McClanahan is a two-time MLB All-Star.