Bulls and FAMU Battle in Final Non-Conference Series

[Brad]

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Bulls and FAMU Battle in Final Non-Conference Series 

 

Matchup: USF (20-2) vs. Florida A&M University (14-7)
Dates: Friday-Sunday, Mar. 24-26 2017 
Times: 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 2:00 p.m. 
Location: Tampa, Fla. | USF Baseball Stadium (3,211) 
 

TAMPA, MARCH. 23, 2017 – The University of South Florida baseball team returns home to host its final non-conference series of the season when Florida A&M University makes the trip to Tampa for three games beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.

The Bulls (20-2) own a decisive 45-3 lead in the all-time series with the Rattlers (14-7). FAMU has earned two of its three wins in the series in Tampa with the other coming at a neutral site.

USF saw its 19-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night at No. 15 FGCU. The Bulls outhit the eagles but stranded eight men including a total of four in the seventh and eighth innings.

Scouting Report – FAMU

The Rattlers are off to one their best starts in school history despite dropping their last two games at Mercer on Tuesday and Wednesday. Senior infielder Ben Ellzey leads the team with a .378 average in 21 games played. Sophomore infielder Kaycee Reese his hitting .377 with 17 runs scored. Junior outfielder Aubrey McCarty and sophomore Willis McDaniel are each batting .321 with a team0best five homers and 22 RBI for the former and a team-leading five doubles for the latter. In total, the Rattlers have seven position players hitting over .300.

The staff is led by senior lefty JoJo Durden, who will start Friday and owns a 2.73 ERA in five starts. He has struck out 21 to lead the team. Junior righty Ryan Anderson will start Saturday with his 4.18 ERA in seven starts. The do-it-all McCarty will start Sunday, as he sports a 4.26 ERA on the mound with 14 strikeouts scattered across 25.1 innings.

The Rattlers have shown excellent patience at the plate, having walked 115 times to rank 15th in the country.  

Notables

• The Bulls will throw senior righty Phoenix Sanders (Gainesville, Fla.) on Friday, lefty Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) on Saturday and senior Ryan Valdes (Tampa) on Sunday.
• The 19-game win streak is the second-longest in program history and longest since 1991. USF arms struck out 11.2 men per nine innings during the streak to lead the nation. On the season, that figure stands at 11.3 which still leads the nation. 
• McClanahan sits seventh nationally allowing 3.95 hits per nine innings and Sanders sits seventh with 48 strikeouts on the year. Valdes is coming off a career-best 7.0 inning outing against Harvard on March 19.
• Senior Luke Borders (Winter Haven, Fla.) saw his reach base safely streak come to an end on Wednesday, as it was the first game this season in which he had not reached base.
• Junior Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) had a game-best three hits and a run scored against the Eagles on Wednesday, as he leads the team with 28 runs scored to rank him ninth in the country. His 37 hits rank him eighth and his 15 stolen bags are the second most in the nation. 

 

[NewEnglandBull]

We will get at least two but I would not bet against all three. 

[Mama_Bull]

This is NOT an easy matchup.

8- You aren’t going to believe me when I tell you this is a big matchup
– Florida A&M (14-7) at South Florida (20-2)
What? THESE guys?! Wipe your eyes son, it’s true. The Rattlers are 14-7 and at No. 29 in this still-too-young of an RPI ranking. The Bulls have turned things around completely this season and are a mind-numbing 20-2 and No. 19 in the RPI. Who knows what May and June will hold for these two, but we’re definitely talking about them right now. Should be fun.

https://d1baseball.com/columns/sorenson-off-top-head-4/

Edited March 24, 2017 by Mama_Bull

[JoeB]

Gotta Win on Friday.  It all starts there.

[charsibb]

This series will be where we find out how good we really are. Hoping for a sweep!

[JoeB]

Didn't realize FAMU is coached by Jamey Shouppe (longtime FSU pitching coach).  This might explain why they are better than in years past. Looks like they have quite a few JuCo transfers too.  It will be a good test, but if our pitchers continue to deal we should be OK.  

[CousinRicky]

Unfortunately we're going to miss this series.  It should be a good one.  

[Mama_Bull]

Our best hitter,  Kevin Merrill is not playing tonight due to illness.

USF Baseball‏ @USFBaseball  26m26 minutes ago

 

Our lineup for game one of the series opener vs. FAMU. Cerelli gets his first start of the season, Zech to lead off. #BullsUnite

 

 

Game audio: 

http://www.gousfbulls.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&id=1822677&catid=0&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=7700

Edited March 24, 2017 by Mama_Bull

[Mama_Bull]

USF up 7-1 and batting in the 7th inning.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Mama_Bull

[swamprat]

Live stats are up. At least from the schedule. Main page link was still not working, but they are working on it.