Bats Overpower, Bullpen Strong in 12-5 Win at UNF

[Triple B]

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
USF	4	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	3	12	16	1
North Florida	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	10	3

JACKSONVILLE, FLA., MARCH 21, 2018 – The USF baseball team scored the final seven runs of the game and the bullpen allowed just two hits over 5.0 innings to secure a ninth-straight win with Wednesday's 12-5 victory at North Florida.  

Junior David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) started a two-out rally in the first with his league-leading 11^th double of the season. Chris Chatfield (Riverview, Fla.) singled through the right to bring him home and give the Bulls (16-6) an early lead. It was the beginning of a big rally, as USF plated three more to lead 4-0 after the opening frame.

After adding another in the second to make it 5-0, The Ospreys (10-13) tied things up in the bottom half. They led off with four-straight singles to get on the board, then an error and a couple wild pitches brought home the rest of the runs.

But the Bulls scored the next four runs, two again coming with two away in the third. After JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) singled to lead off the inning, Tyler Dietrich (Naples, Fla.) reached on a throwing error with two gone. The two advanced on the error, setting up Coco Montes (Miami) for a two-RBI single. In the fifth, Dutka and Kyle Phillips (Orlando) each singled to lead off the frame. Dietrich then singled through the right side, scoring both and making it 9-5.

[BrassBulls12]

Rough outing for Stuart. Right as I was banging the drum for him to get a Sunday start too. Can't give up two runs on wild pitches though. 

[NewEnglandBull]

Other than Stuart, this was another nice game by the team. The bats have been on fire for two weeks now. Uconn will be a nice opening conference test as this series has been close for the past few years. 

[JoeB]

It would be nice to start the weekend with a win.  Shane should give us a good chance, but Tim Cate has owned us over the last few seasons.  We really struggled hitting against him last season.  Hopefully we can get on top of him early.  UConn has a very good squad and a veteran catcher that we won't run on at all. 

[BrassBulls12]

Yeah, Cate is pretty good, but he has struggled up to this point and got roughed up in his last start. Teams are batting .312 against him this season and he carries a near 5 ERA. Of his five starts, two have been decent (7 innings, 2 ER, 9+ k's,) one average (5 innings, 2 ER, 6 k's) and two have been just bad (5 innings, 4+ ER, >7 k's). Kind of a mixed bag, hopefully our offense can capitalize on him while he still finding his groove. 

[NewEnglandBull]

Tonight is going to be a battle