USF Baseball Drops Opening Game of DeLand Regional to Oklahoma State, 9-2

Two-seeded USF baseball was walloped 9-2 by three-seeded Oklahoma State in opening game of the DeLand Regional on Friday.

After taking a 1-0 lead off a Chris Chatfield home run in the second, Oklahoma State tied things up in the third with an RBI double. After the Cowboys tacked on another run to make it 2-1 in the fifth, the wheels started to fall off for the Bulls.

OSU scored three runs in the sixth inning to extend their lead to 5-1. The Bulls were able to get one back in the bottom of the seventh, putting the score at 5-2.

The top of the 9th inning turned out to be disastrous as the Cowboys added four runs to pull away.

Peter Strzelecki was tagged with the loss, giving up 10 hits and four earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched before getting pulled for Alec Wisely. He was able to get out of the inning and pitched into the sixth.

After Carson Ragsdale came in for relief, Richie Cruz was lit up for the four runs in the ninth. The pitching staff has seen better days, giving up nine runs on 15 hits.

The bats were cold for most of the day for the Bulls, with Chatfield’s homer and Villar’s RBI single providing the only two scores for USF.

USF will face off in an elimination game against the loser of the Stetson vs Hartford game tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.