Series info and discussion: USF VS Houston

[BrassBulls12]

Houston's (16-9, 3-0) pitching staff has thrown three complete games, led by LHP Trey Cumbie, who tossed his second straight complete game shutout in the team's conference opener against Memphis. LHP Aaron Fletcher followed with another complete game shutout in Game 2, recording a career-high nine strikeouts as the team clinched the series. Houston swept the conference's weekly awards with Fletcher and 3B Jared Triolo earning the honors. After a midweek loss to Rice, the Cougars will look to bounce back at Cincinnati. The Bearcats (10-12, 1-2) are coming off a 1-0 win over Tulane last Sunday.

USF (18-8, 2-1) started conference play with a series win over UConn and leads the league in runs, scoring, hits, doubles, triples, slugging percentage and batting average. The Bulls average a nation-leading 2.92 doubles per game and have hit 76 doubles this season. 3B David Villar has hit 13 doubles this year, which rank fourth in the NCAA. LHP Shane McClanahan ranks second in the nation with 61 strikeouts. USF will host Tulane over the weekend.
 

http://theamerican.org/news/2018/3/28/baseball-continues-conference-play.aspx

[BrassBulls12]

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by BrassBulls12

[cophbulls]

Personally I don't think that Houston is a top 25 team. Not saying we are (although we are) but they are not. Their hitting is pedestrian at best, they have no hitter creating more that a run per game while USF has 2 (BigMan, Geno) . Overall their starting pitchers might be a tick better but the outcomes are the same, 9-5 for Houston, 10-6 USF, their top 2 have 18 ER with 98ks while our top two (MC, Strez) have 22 ER with 126ks so again I'd say, at best, Houston is a little better. Bullpen-wise, we have 6 pitchers w/ 10 or more innings under their belts and a collective 2.17 ERA, Houston has 5 with an ERA of 2.42 so I'd say our bullpen is a tick better. So pitching is a wash, but USF hitting is the real deal, Houston has 3 batters (Triolo, Lockhart and Davis) with an OPS over .800, USF has 8, eight I say! Outside of Deets @ .781 every starting batter (BigMan, Geno, Duke, JD, Coco, Zech, Philly, Chats) are over 0.800. Additionally USF has scored 203 times, while Houston has scored only 124. Now you might argue well that just means Houstons schedule was more difficult. Not so fast my friend, Based on RPI, Houston SOS's is ranked 230th and their OOC SOS is 235th. USF's SOS is 65th while the Bulls OOC SOS is 53rd!  For that fact alone the Bulls should win at least one game, add everything else in and I am 98% positive that USF wins at least one game (Gm3), I'd also go as far as to say there is better than a 50/50 chance we win 2 of 3, maybe even 60/40, which would be even higher if Houston was coming to Tampa. Finally I think we have about a 1 in 4 chance of sweeping this team. The first two nights are going to depend on how long Houston's starters remain in the game and game 3 will be a slugfest, possible a one-sided slugfest, Bottom line, on paper, USF should win the series and if USF is not a top 25 neither is Houston. But it's baseball and that's why they play the games and any given Sunday blahblahblah.....Should is very different than does.

Edited April 6, 2018 by cophbulls

[BrassBulls12]

To me, the fact that their Sunday Starter is TBD, says a lot. 

[cophbulls]

pretty sure Its going to be Randel, he's started 7 of 7

[Brad]

So happy to get home, turn on iheartradio.com and hear the Bulls up 8-2!

[Brad]

What seemed so certain is no longer so.  

[BrassBulls12]

I wasn’t able to watch tonight but seems like we dominated most of the night. Great win. Just got to finish off the series. 

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Web Link: https://bit.ly/2qhtDB5

Bulls Use Three Homers to Take Game 1 against Cougars

USF tallied 13 hits and David Villar bashed two homers
 

HOUSTON, TX, APRIL 6, 2018 – The University of South Florida baseball team used the long ball early and led 8-0 in the fourth inning, and held on for 9-6 win over Houston to open a three-game series.

The Bulls (21-9, 5-2 The American) rode the bat of junior third baseman David Villar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) in the first, as he crushed a two-out homer to make it 1-0. After a scoreless second,Coco Montes (Miami) led off the third with a double. Three batters later, Joe Genord (Lake Worth, Fla.) blasted a home run to left, making it 3-0. 

USF wasn’t done, as JD Dutka (Suwanee, Ga.) and Kyle Phillips (Orlando) led off the fourth with hits to put them both into scoring position. Garrett Zech (Naples, Fla.) hit a scorching liner off the glove of the Cougars’ (17-12, 4-3 The American) third baseman, scoring Dutka. After Montes reached on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, allowing Phillips to score, Villar came back up with two men on. He got all of 1-0 fastball, sending a moon shot to left, making it 8-0. 

Houston finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, then led off the sixth with a solo homer, making it 8-2 heading into the seventh. USF added one in the top half, but the Cougars cut into the deficit with four runs in the bottom of the seventh on just two hits to make it 9-6.

The Bulls turned to Andrew Perez (Orlando) in the bottom of the eighth, and the junior lefty struck out the side, then two more in the ninth to fend off Houston’s comeback. 

Key Stats 

10 – The Bulls tallied double-digit hits for the 18^thtime.

4 – Four Bulls had multiple hits.

2 – Villar became the second Bull to hit two homers in a game this season, joining Genord, who did it against Tulane on March 30.

Notables

·   Villar finished 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI.

·   Genord went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBI.

·   Dutka went 3-for-4 with a run, a RBI and two doubles.

·   Montes went 2-for-5 with two runs and a RBI.

·   Lefty ace Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) got his fourth win of the season. He went 6.2 innings and struck out eight.

Up Next

The Bulls and Cougars play the second game of this three-game series Saturday at 7:30 p.m. 

[Brad]