GoUSFBulls.com No. 23 Bulls Trek North For Series With UConn

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

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No. 23 Bulls Trek North For Series With UConn  

 

Matchup: USF (38-10, 12-6 The American) at UConn (24-20, 10-8 The American)
Date: Friday-Saturday, May 12-13, 2017 
Time: 11:00 a.m. (DH) | 1:00 p.m. 
Location: Storrs, Conn. | J.O. Christian Field (2,000)
Follow: Stats | Listen | Watch
 

TAMPA, MAY 11, 2017 – The University of South Florida baseball team will play a three-game series at UConn beginning Friday at 11:00 a.m.   

The games can be heard on AM 1040 and watched live on UConnHuskies.com. Due to inclement weather expected in the New England area for Sunday, the series was adjusted. The teams will play a doubleheader Friday and the series finale will be Saturday. Both games Friday will be nine innings.

The Bulls had one of their biggest wins of the season Tuesday night in Gainesville, as they knocked off the No. 5 Gators 15-10. USF plated its season-high 15 runs behind 13 hits and a season-high 17 walks. Of the 13 hits, eight were extra-base knocks. The Bulls held two-separate 10-run leads.

It snapped a six-game losing streak to Florida and, added with the Feb. 21 victory at Florida State, makes this season the first in USF’s history in which it defeated both in-state foes on the road. 

Series History

The Bulls and Huskies have met 33 times since 2009 dating back to their years as Big East rivals. The sides will play games 54, 55 and 56 of the series this weekend. USF holds a 29-24 edge in the series. 

Scouting Report – UConn

The Huskies enter the weekend with a .261 team average led by junior infielder Willy Yahn, hitting .318 with 29 runs, seven doubles and 17 RBI. Sophomore catcher Zac Susi is hitting .302 with 21 runs, nine doubles and 35 RBI. Freshman infielder Anthony Prato is batting .292 with a team-leading 39 runs scored. Junior outfielder Isaac Feldstein is hitting .266 with a team-high 14 doubles, six homers and 37 RBI.

UConn’s pitching staff has been its strength this season, as it sits second in the nation behind the Bulls with 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Junior righty Wills Montgomerie will pitch Saturday with his 3.71 ERA and league-leading 97 strikeouts. Sophomore lefty Tim Cate will go in game one Friday with his 3.64 ERA and 76 strikeouts. Cate has logged just 54.1 innings in nine starts and is averaging 12.59 strikeouts per nine innings. Freshman lefty Mason Feole has a 3.36 ERA and 63 strikeouts. He will make his 12th start in game two Friday.

Notables

·   The Bulls were ranked No 23 according to Baseball America and USA Today as of Monday, No. 24 according to D1 Baseball and check in at No. 19 in RPI after Tuesday’s win.  

·   The win over Florida also makes this season the first since 1989 in which USF beat both the Gators and Seminoles.

·   The Bulls scored 15 runs in Tuesday’s win, the first time they have done so since March 29, 2015.

·   Eight USF batters recorded at least one hit Tuesday and all eight either scored or drove in a run.

·   Junior Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) remains atop the league with a .403 average to sit 11th in the nation.

·   Junior Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) sits second in the league with a .369 average.

·   The Bulls will throw their usual weekend hurlers in senior Phoenix Sanders (Gainesville, Fla.), redshirt-freshman Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) and redshirt-junior Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.). 

Key Stats 

·   The Bulls’ pitching staff leads the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.6). The staff ranks sixth in hits allowed per nine innings, fifth in WHIP and seventh in team ERA entering the weekend. 

·   The USF offense leads the conference with a .304 team average, a .401 on base percentage and a .448 slugging percentage.

·   Sophomore Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) went 3-for-5 Tuesday with two homers, three runs and four RBI. He now has six hits against the Gators in his two-career meetings.

·   Classmates Coco Montes (Miami), David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) each had two hits with a combined seven runs.

·   Senior Luke Borders (Winter Haven, Fla.) has faced the Huskies eight times in his career. He hit .385 (5-for-13) with a run and two RBI against UConn last season.

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Web Link: http://bit.ly/2r4UyxT

 

USF – UConn Series Altered Due to Weather

 

TAMPA, MAY 11, 2017 – Due to inclement weather expected in the New England area on Sunday, USF and UConn will now play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 11:00 a.m. and the series finale will be Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

All three games can be heard on AM 1040 and watched on UConnHuskies.com.

For additional updates and further adjustments to this weekend’s schedule, be sure to follow USF Baseball on Twitter and GoUSFBulls.com.

 

[JoeB]

UConn has some really good starters with impressive numbers.  Winning two out of three will be tough.  Need to have great at bats like we did in Gainesville.

[NewEnglandBull]

Key will be winning that first game and I think it will be the most difficult. Weather up here is also going play a role. Other than rain, it is also quite cool (high temps will be the mid to high 50s). 

[charsibb]

11 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Key will be winning that first game and I think it will be the most difficult. Weather up here is also going play a role. Other than rain, it is also quite cool (high temps will be the mid to high 50s). 

More importantly, what is the humidity???