Mulholland Tosses Complete Game, USF Wins 5-1

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

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DATE: March 14, 2014

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Mulholland Tosses Complete Game, USF Wins 5-1

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TAMPA, MARCH 14, 2014 – Casey Mulholland pitched USF to a 5-1 victory over Rhode Island in the first of a three game set Friday night at USF Baseball Stadium.

“Casey Mulholland has been good his last three outings,” said head coach Lelo Prado. “We hope he continues these efforts into our first weekend of conference play next weekend.”

Mulholland (2-0), who was named The American Pitcher of the Week on Monday, fired the first complete game for the Bulls this season allowing just one run on seven hits and a pair of walks while striking out five. He allowed more than one base runner in an inning just twice tossing 101 pitches in the game.

“I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff but I went out and competed,” said Mulholland. “At the end of the day, I made pitches I needed to make in crucial situations and got outs.”

After allowing the lone run in the second, Mulholland retired the next 11 batters and faced just three batters over the minimum in the final seven innings.

The Bradenton native got all the run support he would need in the first two innings as the Bulls put five runs on the board. In the first, Buddy Putnam and Levi Borders both delivered two-out RBI singles. An inning later, the duo each added another RBI to their total, Putnam with a single to right field and Borders with a sacrifice fly. Luke Maglich pushed across the first run of the frame with a bases loaded fielder’s choice where the catcher never stepped on home plate.

USF had opportunities to add to their lead but stranded two runners in the third and fifth inning and left 11 on base for the game.

“We came out with a lot better intensity today which I was happy to see,” said Prado. “We still need to get better offensively, and we will, but the first couple of innings were good to see after the struggles we have had of late.”

Offensively, Kyle Teaf, Luke Borders and Putnam all had two hits on the night. Teaf also added a pair of walks and scored twice while Putnam drove in two upping his season total to 16, the second best mark in the conference. He also extended his hitting streak to nine games.

Nick Narodowy suffered the loss for Rhode Island going 4.2 innings allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits, three walks and three hit batters. Tyler Bowditch threw 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. Tim Caputo had the lone multi-hit performance for the Rams going 2-for-4.

The two sides will play game two of the three game series tomorrow evening at USF Baseball Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

- #GoBulls -

[bullsbucsfan426]

If we can figure out how to get better hitting throughout the order, this team will be unstoppable. 

[Brad]

I have only seen one game but I like the middle infield combo Teaf and Alfonso (?).

Seemed like a kind of young team. We looked pretty good but URI starting pitching spotted us a lot of runs.

[cophbulls]

Kyle Teaf came in last year and took over for Alfonso (Fonzie) at SS moving Fonzie over to second. His impact to this teams defense is understated. Best SS I can remember, definately pro calibur. Our defense is stout even w/ a freshman @ 3rd, pitching is quality with depth (bullpen pitched 8 innings of shutout, 1 hit(?) baseball in the series against FSU) and we have more offense this year than last. I think this is the best team we have had since the Gload/Heinz era, hence the expectations and excitement is growing. Many Freshman/Sophmores up and down the lineup. The only disappointment thus far (besides losing two to FSU and one to FIU) is the struggle of the Border borthers at the plate.

Excellent pitching performance last night but keep in mind who we are playing, Rhode Island is 2-12 RPI is 232nd, they are so bad that just playing them caused us to drop 30 spots in the RPI 

[Brad]

Bulls come back to.win Game 2 4-3

[Ricky the Bull]

We were losing 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth and pulled out a win.  Nice!