Under The Radar: South Florida

[Mama_Bull]

Under The Radar: South Florida

UNDER THE RADAR Aaron Fitt - March 9, 2017

 

South Florida was one of college baseball’s most pleasant surprises in coach Mark Kingston’s first season at the helm in 2015, coming out of nowhere to win 34 games and make a regional. Injuries torpedoed the Bulls a year ago — most notably four key arms missing the season with Tommy John surgery — and they finished just 24-33 overall, 8-16 in the American Athletic Conference.

Expectations were modest for USF heading into this season, but the Bulls looked like something of a wild card in the preseason. If they got healthy on the mound, and if their big, exciting core of sophomores in the lineup continued to mature, maybe they could make some noise in 2017.

That’s exactly what has happened over the season’s first four weeks. The Bulls haven’t played the strongest schedule, but they have dominated it, getting off to a 12-1 start. That includes one series win against a team with a winning record (Iowa) and an excellent midweek win on the road at No. 3 Florida State on Feb. 21. Since dropping their second game of the season against Iowa, the Bulls have reeled off 11 straight wins heading into a three-game set this weekend against 6-5 Valparaiso.

The secret to USF’s success is pretty obvious: pitching. Heading into Week Four, USF ranks seventh in the nation in ERA (2.01), second in strikeouts per nine innings (12.1) and fourth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.71).

 

https://d1baseball.com/under-the-radar/radar-south-florida/

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[Ionbull]

That's some solid love! Also agree, the SOS so far hasn't been mind blowing, but they are dominating in these games. They also have four come from behind victories in the ninth inning. 

[NewEnglandBull]

30 minutes ago, Ionbull said:

That's some solid love! Also agree, the SOS so far hasn't been mind blowing, but they are dominating in these games. They also have four come from behind victories in the ninth inning. 

Not going to get crazy until they play conference games. 

[Brad]

45 minutes ago, Mama_Bull said:

big, exciting core of sophomores

That's what I've seen. 

[Brad]

48 minutes ago, Mama_Bull said:

Heading into Week Four, USF ranks seventh in the nation in ERA (2.01)

Your humble "webmaster" and baseball enthusiast was all over that. 

[Mama_Bull]

11 minutes ago, Brad said:

Your humble "webmaster" and baseball enthusiast was all over that. 

Our ERA is 1.93

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/team/211

 

 

[smazza]

was this turnaround expected  basebull fans?

[Ionbull]

3 hours ago, smazza said:

was this turnaround expected  basebull fans?

Last year the team was decimated by injuries to the pitching staff (four guys under the knife with TJ.) Three of those pitchers are now part of the starting staff. The freshmen from that highly ranked recruiting class now have a year under their belts and are beginning to deliver as sophomores. It's still hard to tell where this team really is since they've played virtually all home games and the competition hasn't been tough at all. In other words, a turnaround was expected due to having guys healthy, but I'm not sure how many people expected the best start in program history including a win over #3 FSU in Tally.

Time will tell, but even top five teams are dropping games to mediocre opppnents, so winning said games definitely stands for something. I'm pretty darn excited.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Ionbull

[Bull Matrix]

The Kingston Kids are doing amazing this season 

[raptorcj]

Very cool, beat Valpo!