GoUSFBulls.com Bulls Face Pirates In Winners Bracket Thursday

[Brad]

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Bulls Face Pirates In Winners Bracket Thursday

Matchup: USF (41-15, 15-10 The American) vs. ECU (30-27, 13-11 The American)
Date: Thursday, May 25, 2017 
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Clearwater, Fla., | Spectrum Field
Follow: Stats | Listen | Watch
 

TAMPA, MAY 24, 2017 – The University of South Florida baseball team looks to advance to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Championships when it takes on East Carolina Thursday at 7:00 p.m. 

The game can be heard on AM 1040 and will be aired live on The American Digital Network. Tickets to the tournament can be purchased at the Spectrum Field box office or by calling 727-467-4457. 

The fourth-seeded Bulls got by fifth-seeded Tulane with a come-from-behind 7-6 win. USF trailed 3-0 and 6-3 at one point before scoring the final four runs, including two in the eighth.  

Junior Duke Stunkel Jr. (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) had the game-tying double in the eighth then scored the winning run later in the frame.

Series History

The Bulls and Pirates met from May 5-7. USF swept ECU in the final home series of the season to take a 7-5 edge in the all-time series in Tampa. The Bulls are riding a six-game winning streak against the Pirates. The two sides met in the first game of last year’s American Athletic Conference Championship, where USF won 4-2.  

Notables

·   The Bulls have won at least one game in the conference tournament in each of the last six seasons, having made it to the Big East Championship game in 2011. 

·   Junior Kevin Merrell (Odessa, Fla.) went 2-for-4 with two runs in the win Tuesday.

·   Sophomore David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. He hit his seventh homer of the season. Classmate Chris Chatfield (Riverview, Fla.) hit a three-run blast in the fourth, his sixth of the year. 

·   USF is now 32-0 when leading after the eighth inning this season and 19-8 in games decided by two runs or less. It has also won 18 games when trailing after the sixth inning. 

·   Peter Strzelecki (Lake Worth, Fla.) leads the team with a 2.48 ERA and went 8.1 innings allowing just three hits and one earned run against ECU on May 7. He struck out a career-high 10 batters in the win. 

·   Redshirt-freshman Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) will start Thursday against the Pirates. He leads the team and conference with 12.67 strikeouts per nine innings.  

·   The Bulls’ pitching staff entered the tournament still atop the country in strikeouts per nine innings and inside the top-10 in team ERA, hits allowed per nine innings and WHIP. 

·   USF set the single season program record for most strikeouts in a season on May 18 at UCF with 547. The team currently sits at 582 on the year.

·   USF is seeking its first conference tournament title since 1995.

·   Sophomore Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) went 6-for-8 in two games vs. the Pirates earlier in the month with five RBI and was named conference Player of the Week for his efforts.  

Scouting Report – East Carolina

The Pirates mashed their way to a 14-3 win over top-seeded UCF on Tuesday night. They clubbed 15 hits led by a 3-for-5 effort from Tyler Watkins, who had two runs and two RBI as well. He holds the team-lead with a .349 average. Charlie Yorgen went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI and is second on the squad with a .341 average along with third baseman Eric Tyler.

Trey Benton will start for the Pirates Thursday. He holds a 3-4 record and a 4.26 ERA in 13 starts. He leads the team with 70 strikeouts and has just 18 walks.

[Mama_Bull]

Nice to see Shane back in the rotation.

" Redshirt-freshman Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) will start Thursday against the Pirates. He leads the team and conference with 12.67 strikeouts per nine innings".  

[charsibb]

18 BoB's against 70 K's?

That's crazy talk!

 

[JTrue]

24 minutes ago, charsibb said:

18 BoB's against 70 K's?

That's crazy talk!

 

Yes and no. His k/bb ratio looks nice, but he's walking almost 2.5 batters per 9 innings. That's not bad, but its not all that great either.

Edited May 25, 2017 by JTrue

[jchem1995]

I hope we beat their pirate hearts right out of the stadium.  They are baseball arrogant who think that if any one team is less deserving to have success it's USF. Read that on their board.  Make 'em walk the plank Bulls.

[charsibb]

15 hours ago, JTrue said:

Yes and no. His k/bb ratio looks nice, but he's walking almost 2.5 batters per 9 innings. That's not bad, but its not all that great either.

Same formula gives 9.7 K's per 9 innings. I couldn't do that pitching at marble statues...

 

[bowman1]

Just got to the stadium - ECU is in white pants and USF is in gray pants

I am guessing that we are the visitors even though we are the lower seed and have the better record

[charsibb]

1 minute ago, bowman1 said:

Just got to the stadium - ECU is in white pants and USF is in gray pants

I am guessing that we are the visitors even though we are the lower seed and have the better record

Higher seed (smaller number) should always be home team.

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by charsibb

[bullsmeanbusiness]

2 minutes ago, charsibb said:

Higher seed (smaller number) should always be home team.

 

Supposedly teams are alternating home/away or even doing a coin toss. UCF was the away team today against Tulane even as the #1. 

 

[bowman1]

4 minutes ago, charsibb said:

Higher seed (smaller number) should always be home team.

 

Well - they just announced the lineups, we are definitely the visitors