The Weekend Wrap-Up: 4/11-4/13 Edition: Sara Nevins Reaches 1,000 Strikeouts

Baseball

The baseball team headed north this weekend to take on Temple in a three-game series. The Bulls ended up winning the series, taking two of the three games. Offense was certainly on display during the series as the teams put up a combined 39 runs over the three games. The first game was a victory for USF by a score of 13-6. The Bulls started things off with a one-run first inning, then picked up two more in both the second and third innings. The game really got blown open for the Bulls though during the fourth inning when they scored five more runs (thanks to a couple errors by Temple) to go up 10-0.

USF lost the second game, 6-5, on Saturday. The Bulls jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the top of the fifth inning before giving up six unanswered through the rest of the game. USF had plenty of chances to win the game and ultimately left 11 men on base. Lawrence Pardo, Luke Maglich, Luke Borders, and Zac Gilcrease each finished with two hits. Casey Mulholland got the start, but lasted only 4.1 innings before leaving the game. He gave up four runs off seven hits and struck out three.

The final game of the series saw USF walk away with their seventh conference win and twentieth overall win of the year, with a 6-3 win over the Owls. Tommy Peterson got the start for the Bulls and lasted six innings, giving up only one run off five hits and striking out five. Kyle Teaf and Andres Leal led the offensive efforts for the Bulls, each getting two hits. Teaf had a tremendous series, batting a combined .600 over the three games and scoring five runs and picking up two RBIs.

Men's Tennis

The men's tennis team finished off the regular season this weekend with matches on the road at Middle Tennessee State University and Memphis. The first match on Friday at Midd. Tennessee State saw USF walk away with the easy win, 6-1. The Bulls won the doubles point and won four out of the five singles matches to walk away with the victory. USF then headed a few hundred miles southwest to The Racquet Club of Memphis to take on the University of Memphis Tigers on Sunday. The match was conveniently timed so that the Bulls could get a nice little preview of the courts before they play in the Conference championship there this upcoming weekend. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they walked away with the close loss, 4-3, to end the regular season. USF dropped the doubles point 2-1, but started the singles off strong by winning the first match. However, the Bulls then lost the next three straight singles matches to seal their fate. Next up for the Bulls is the American Athletic Conference Championship in Memphis starting this Thursday.

Sailing

The women's sailing team headed north this weekend to Annapolis, Maryland to compete in the Truxtun Umsted Regatta. The regatta was hosted by the Naval Academy and the Midshipmen finished a strong third out of 14 teams. The Bulls came in 12th, only beating the University of Michigan and SUNY Maritime College. First place went to the College of Charleston with a score 211 (the Bulls scored 514). Second place went to the Georgetown Hoyas. Next up for the team is the SAISA Women's Championship in Wilmington, N.C. this upcoming weekend.

Softball

Once again, Sara Nevins put on a headlining performance at the USF Softball Stadium. In the three-game series against UCF, Nevins managed to both get her seventh no-hitter of her career while also becoming the first Bull to strike out 1,000 batters. Only 81 other pitchers have ever reached 1,000 strikeouts in Division-1 softball. "I don't really think about it like that but I guess it's a good thing to have happen," Nevins said. She finished the game with 10 strikeouts and gave up only one walk. Juli Weber and Ashli Goff led things offensively for the Bulls, each getting two hits. The final score of the game was 4-0.

The rest of the series ultimately did not go USF's way, with the Bulls losing both remaining games. Erica Nunn got the start in the second game on Saturday, going just 3.2 innings before leaving the game. She got hooked for the loss, giving up three runs off five hits and striking out four. The only run USF managed to score came in the third inning off an RBI infield single by Juli Weber. Mackenzie Audas had a great day pitching for the Knights, going the full seven innings and only giving up one run off three hits and striking out seven. The final score was 3-1.

The Sunday game was a pitchers duel, with the game going scoreless all the way to the seventh inning. Both the aces were on the mound- Audas for UCF and Nevins for the Bulls. Both starters went the full seven innings for the complete game, but it was ultimately Audas who walked away with the win by a score of 2-1. She gave up only one run off just four hits. Nevins, on the other hand, gave up two runs off six hits and struck out seven. "I thought our girls were demonstrating South Florida softball in respect of energy and focus," USF head coach Ken Eriksen said. Next up for the Bulls is a three-game series away at Houston this upcoming weekend.

Track & Field

The Bulls traveled west on Saturday to compete in the Texas Invitational in Austin, TX. As teams, the men's team finished fifth out of nine teams (with a score of 55) and the women's team finished sixth (with a score of 65). The University of Texas Longhorns swept both team competitions with scores of 184 and 231.5 in men's and women's respectively. Mira Carroza finished first in the javelin throw with the third best throw in school history at 145 feet, 4 inches. Courtney Anderson won the high jump and Michael Babinec won the 3,000m steeplechase. Next up for the Bulls is a split team weekend. One group will head to the bayou to compete in the LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge, LA and the other group will head to the northern swamps of Gainesville to (hopefully) dominate the Tom Jones Memorial Invite.