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The Weekend Wrap-Up: 3/21-3/23 Edition

Everything you missed this weekend- including both baseball and softball kicking off conference play.

By Brian G. Many
Photo by Guillermo Fernandez, GoUSFBulls.com
Photo by Guillermo Fernandez, GoUSFBulls.com

Baseball

The baseball team kicked off conference play this weekend taking two of three games against UConn. Starting pitcher Jimmy Herget had a good feeling going into the first game and tweeted this:

He turned out to be right and treated fans to seven innings of no-hit baseball and a 2-1 win for the Bulls. "It was one of those days where everything felt good," said Herget. The no-hitter was broken up due to a controversial call that could've (some would argue it should've) been called an error on a ball hit to short-stop Kyle Teaf, but he would've had to make a very tough play to get the out. Regardless, Herget gave up a second hit in the ninth and was ultimately pulled out of the game.

The Bulls won the second game by a score of 6-2 on Saturday. Buddy Putnam led the Bulls with two RBI's and two runs off 1-4 hitting. Jordan Strittmatter had a very strong showing from the pen. He came on in the eight with the bases loaded and no outs and proceeded to get a double-play ball and a fly out to end the inning. He had a little drama in the ninth after allowing the first two batters on base, but got a fielder's choice and another double-play to get out of it and earn his first career win.

The third game turned out to be a loss for the Bulls, 4-2. Brian Ward had a no-hitter going for the Huskies through six innings before Andres Leal singled to center to lead off the seventh. The Bulls then proceeded to score both of their runs in that inning, one of them thanks to a fielding error by the Huskies.

USF's hitting struggles continued throughout the series, as they only picked up twelve on the weekend (five in the Friday game, four on Saturday, and three in the Sunday game). Daniel Portales was the only Bull to register a multi-hit game with two on Friday. "We got to keep working on the hitting because we need to score more runs," said head coach Lelo Prado. "Maybe we are talking to them to much about hitting, but we'll keep on working on it"

Sailing

The women's sailing team headed up to South Carolina for the 2014 Charleston Women's Regatta. The Bulls finished in seventh place out of twelve teams with a score of 154. Yale took home the victory with a final score of 85.

Softball

The #25 softball team opened up conference play with a bang this weekend- sweeping a three game series against UConn. Sara Nevins got the start in the first game, a 6-2 win. She went all seven innings, giving up three hits and striking out 15. Stephanie Medina extended the Bulls lead to 6-0 in the fifth inning with a grand slam. It was her 24th career home run and tied her for fourth on the all-time USF list.

The second game of the day was a nail-bitter thanks to a five run seventh inning from the Huskies, but the Bulls hung on to win 7-6. Sam Griener hit the first two batters in that seventh inning, before being relieved by Sara Nevins. After striking out the first batter, Nevins surrendered back-to-back singles that cut the lead down to four runs (6-2, was 6-1 when she came in). Audrey Grinnell then hit a three-run home run to left field to cut the lead to just one, but Nevins retired the last two batters to preserve the win for the Bulls.

The last game was the Sara Nevins show and a 8-0 victory for the Bulls. Nevins picked up her second no-hitter of the season and sixth of her career. She recorded seven strikeouts along the way and walked two. "It's huge (to start conference play with a sweep). Connecticut is a good team and they always are very competitive, so to go out and get three wins is huge," assistant coach Monica Triner said.

Track & Field

The Bulls hosted another invitational that finished up on Friday. USF had a grand total of nine first place finishes in the two day invitational, seven coming from the men's team. The mens first place finishes came from: Alfred Higgs (100m dash), Franklin Mosey (400m dash), Devin Screen (hammer throw AND shot put), Chase Meyers (high jump), Michael Babinec (3,000m steeplechase). The seventh event was the 4x100m relay won by Alfred Higgs, Derrick Hopkins, Chareif Lewis, and Dae Young Yoon. The first place finishes from the womens side were both jumping in nature. Courtney Anderson finished first in the high jump and Natasha Stewart beat the competition in the long jump. Up next in track & field for the Bulls is the Austin Relays this upcoming weekend in Austin, TX.

Women's Basketball

The women's basketball team kicked off the WNIT this weekend taking on North Carolina A&T in the first round on Friday. That game finished a lot closer then expected- with the Bulls only winning by six, 56-50. The Bulls were sloppy with the ball and turned it over 17 times that led to 20 points for NC A&T. USF also got out rebounded and allowed 21 second chance points (USF only got 6). Alisia Jenkins recorded a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Courtney Williams just barely missed out on a double-double herself with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Inga Orekhova also had a solid game with 15 points.

After winning in the first round, the Bulls hosted Stetson in the second round on Sunday. The final result was never in doubt in this one as the Bulls absolutely dominated and won 75-56. The seniors had that mean look in their eye and played like they had some kind of personal grudge against Stetson. Inga Orekhova had a monster first half with 16 points and 6 rebounds (finished with 22 points and 6 rebounds) and Akila McDonald nearly finished shooting a perfect 100%, but missed a jumper late and finished 10-11 with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Only two other Bulls had more than two points- Ariadna Pujol with 12 and Courtney Williams with 10. The Bulls also set the record for post season shooting percentage as a team with 51.7% (previous high was 50%) and shared the ball really well (recording 25 assists).

The Bulls will host George Washington University in the third round on Thursday night in the Sun Dome.