GoUSFBulls.com Bulls Honor Seniors, Complete Sweep of ECU

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

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Web Link: http://bit.ly/2qQxZN2

 

Bulls Honor Seniors, Complete Sweep of ECU 
Peter Strzelecki pitched 8.1 innings and struck out 10

TAMPA, MAY 7, 2017 – The University of South Florida baseball team scored five runs in the first inning which was more than enough to complete the sweep over East Carolina with Sunday’s 6-3Senior Day win.   

All nine Bulls (37-10, 12-6 The American) came to the plate in the first, as they had six hits to jump out to an early lead.

The Pirates (24-24, 4-14 The American) got two back in top of the second on a two-run homer to center. But redshirt-junior Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.) settled down and put forth the best outing of his career.

Strzelecki retired 18 of 19 men at one point and pitched into the ninth. ECU tallied one more in the ninth, but the Bulls allowed nothing more and put the finishing touches on the series.

Key Stats

• Strzelecki struck out a career-high 10 men and pitched 8.1 innings, the first USF pitcher to go longer than 7.0 innings this season.
• Junior Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) went 3-for-5 with a run scored.
• Senior Luke Borders (Winter Haven, Fla.) went 2-for-5 with a run and a RBI.
• Sophomore Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) capped his six-hit weekend with a 3-for-4 afternoon along with a run and two RBI.
• Classmate Coco Montes (Miami) had two RBI as well.
• The Bulls tallied 13 hits as a team, as eight starters recorded a hit.

Notables

• USF improves its record against ECU to 11-15, 7-5 in Tampa.
• The Bulls now have sole possession of first place in The American, as Houston fell in the series finale against UConn. 
• The Bulls finish the home slate 31-6.
• This marks USF’s seventh series sweep of the season.
• The Bulls clubbed double-digit hits for the 27th time this year.

Up Next

USF plays its final eight regular-season games on the road, beginning with No. 7 Florida Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

[JoeB]

Great game by Pete S.  I thought he would be pulled after the 7th...and after the 8th.  But he pitched into the 9th and recorded an out before getting pulled.  He was on fumes the last few innings but still got outs.  Longest start of the season by any of our pitchers.  Very impressive.  Merrell had another huge game but the biggest hit of the game came in the first inning with two outs and Tyler Dietrich scored two with a knock.  Kept the inning going and we scored a few after that too.  Great game.

[Mama_Bull]

5 minutes ago, JoeB said:

Great game by Pete S.  I thought he would be pulled after the 7th...and after the 8th.  But he pitched into the 9th and recorded an out before getting pulled.  He was on fumes the last few innings but still got outs.  Longest start of the season by any of our pitchers.  Very impressive.  Merrell had another huge game but the biggest hit of the game came in the first inning with two outs and Tyler Dietrich scored two with a knock.  Kept the inning going and we scored a few after that too.  Great game.

This could have been the last time Merrell ever plays in a USF home game. He will be very tough to replace.

[JoeB]

Just now, Mama_Bull said:

This could have been the last time Merrell ever plays in a USF home game. He will be very tough to replace.

Didn't think about this, but probably true.  I think he is 99% gone.  If you want to see him in a USF uniform, you'll have to go to Clearwater for the AAC Tourney.

[Mama_Bull]

18 hours ago, JoeB said:

Didn't think about this, but probably true.  I think he is 99% gone.  If you want to see him in a USF uniform, you'll have to go to Clearwater for the AAC Tourney.

Unless, we end up hosting a regional.

From DI Baseball chat today:

D1Baseball’s Weekly Chat

(05/08/2017)

12:56

Kendall Rogers:  We will start answering your questions at 2 PM ET — but go ahead and get your questions in now!

2:01	Aaron Fitt:  Hi everybody, greetings from the desert of California. Fun weekend in Arizona; next stop on my West Coast junket is Fullerton for a Tuesday night game against UCLA, then on to Oregon. Fun time of year. Let’s chat.

 

 

2:09	Comment From Eddie  How realistic is USF’s hosting chances? Last thing I wanna see is being paired in a region with UF but feel the committee may place us there, even if we have a solid end to the year plus a nice conference tourney run

Aaron Fitt:  USF’s hosting chances are getting stronger by the week — that sweep of ECU this weekend was a big boost, because now the Bulls are all alone atop the conference standings. I still really like the 6-1 mark vs. top 50 and 16-7 record against the top 100. You’d like to see the RPI come up a bit — Southeast teams don’t usually host with RPIs in the 20s, and the Bulls are currently 23rd. But those last two series are both on the road against good clubs (UConn and UCF), so those are RPI boosters. If the Bulls keep playing well in those weekends and win the AAC regular-season title, I like their chances. https://d1baseball.com/chats/d1baseballs-weekly-chat-2/ A win @UF will likely imrove our RPI to #20. That would go a long way in improving our hosting chances.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Mama_Bull