USF Athletics Weekend Round-Up 3/7

USF Athletics continues their loaded spring season with sweeps - both positive and negative - upsets, and basketball (finally) wrapping up their regular season.

Baseball continues hot streak, sweeps Stetson in walk-off fashion.

After being swept their first series of the season vs. FGCU the Bulls have gone on a hot streak winning seven straight contests vs. FAMU last weekend (4 games) and Stetson over the weekend. The Hatters came into the in-state series 10-0 on the year, ranked fourth in the nation in ERA, and fresh off a sweep of the Central Florida Golden Knights in Oviedo. This series featured the first two games in DeLand and the final game at the USF Baseball Stadium.

Game 1: USF 3-2

Jack Jasiak (2-0) continued his impressive start on the mound picking up the victory on Friday and striking out ten Hatters in the process. He pitched into the seventh allowing two runs and no walks. Orion Kerkering shut the door in the ninth with three strikeouts picking up his first save of the year. Freshman Drew Brutcher continued to impress going 2-4 with a solo homerun (there’s a theme here) in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie and the Bulls never looked back. Sophomore Roberto Pena also homered in the seventh.

Game 2: USF 10-5

The bats came alive in game two as the Bulls tallied 10 runs on 16 hits with five players recording multi-hit days. Redshirt freshman outfielder Carmine Lane was the story going 4-5 from the plate with one run and three RBI. Baron Stuart (2-0) was awarded the victory relieving Collin Sullivan as the pitchers combined for three earned runs on ten hits and seven strikeouts. Senior Logan Lyle recorded the save going three innings and five strikeouts. Drew Brutcher hit a 3-R HR in the second to give the Bulls the lead for good.

Game 3: USF 6-5, 12 innings

The final game of the season provided no shortage of dramatics as USF used a ninth inning rally to tie the game and eventually win it on a - you guessed it - Drew Brutcher homerun in the 12th. Down 5-4 in the ninth, Freshman infielder Keanu Jacobs-Guishard singled in the tying run with 1 out to send the game to extras. After threatening with the bases loaded in the 11th to no avail, Brutcher decided it was supper time and slugged his third homerun in as many days to secure the series sweep. Orion Kerkering secured the victory in relief tallying his second win on the season, striking out four and allowing only one hit in four innings.

Brutcher, and Jasiak were named AAC Player, and Pitcher of the Week for their efforts.

The Bulls will head to Tallahassee to take on Florida State (4-4, 2-3 ACC) on Tuesday at 4 p.m. before a three game rematch with FGCU over the weekend.

Softball loses pair of games to No. 2 Arizona in Tampa

USF softball (3-6) had the tough task of hosting one of the best teams in the nation for a two game stint and suffered run-rule losses in both of them. This series was assistant coach Jessica Moore’s last with the program as “she leaves to pursue new opportunities in Denmark” according to USF Athletics. Moore was the Bulls interim coach in the 2020 shortened season with Coach Ken managing the national time for the Olympics.

Game 1: Arizona 11-1, 5 innings

Sophomore pitcher Camryn Dolby gave up two runs through the first four frames before the WIldcats offense came alive in the fifth tallying 9 runs off 8 hits. The Bulls scored a two out run in the home half before the run-rule came into affect.

Game 2: Arizona 8-0, 5 innings

Arizona’s offense was too much even with junior Georgina Corrick on the mound. Corrick held the Wildcats scoreless through the first three frames before giving up five and three in the 4th and 5th innings respectively. The Bulls had two chances in the first two innings with the bases loaded, but couldn’t score any runs. Corrick pitched around two similar bases loaded jams in the 1st and 3rd before Arizona went on a run.

USF will play a doubleheader with New Mexico State at home on Wednesday starting at 3 p.m. before welcoming Team USA for a three game series this weekend.

USF Volleyball loses pair of five-set matches to defending AAC Champion Cincinnati

Coach Jolene Shepherdson continued to coach her team aggressively as the Bulls (5-5, 3-3) pushed the defending conference champs to the brink in back-to-back losses at home. Both matches were eerily similar on the scorecard with Cincy taking the first set in both games, USF rallying back to take the next two, and then relinquishing the lead and the match in the final two frames. The story was the departures of Freshman Agata Plaga (17 kills on Thursday) and sophomore Madison Lyons in the second game to injury. Neither returned to game action.

After a weekend off, USF will welcome Tulane (5-8, 3-3) to the Corral March 19-20 .

Men’s soccer picks up another Top-25 win in conference, shocks Tulsa 2-1.

USF Men’s soccer has already played three top-25 teams on this young season and after Saturday’s victory over the No. 22 Golden Hurricane, have notched their second win in those contests. The scoring was done entirely by freshmen with Shion Shoga (64’) and Brian Schaefer (75’) each scoring their first career goals. For the second straight week the Bulls rallied from a 1-0 deficit to score two unanswered goals and notch another victory for Coach Butehorn’s squad. It was a fairly quiet evening for the netminders as USF won the shots-on-goal battle 5-3.

After dropping their first two conference matches, the Bulls (3-2) have won three straight against AAC foes. USF will travel to Memphis (1-3) on Saturday.

No. 17 Women’s soccer stays undefeated in conference with fourth consecutive shutout.

USF Women’s soccer (3-0-1, 2-0) continues its hot streak notching a 1-0 victory over ECU in Greenville to stay tied atop the AAC standings. Goalkeeper Sydney Martinez notched her fourth straight shutout on a day where she only had to make one save. USF outshot the Pirates 18-6 with a 5-1 shots-on-goal advantage. The only scoring came on Meghan Cavanaugh’s strike in the 83rd minute to secure the victory, and the clean-sheet, for the Bulls.

USF will return home to face Tulsa (1-2) on Saturday.

USF Men’s Basketball loses to Wichita St. 80-63

The Bulls - losers of seven of their last eight - drop the regular season finale to the Shockers. USF never really looked right after a month long stoppage for covid related reasons with every loss by double digits. Michael Durr scored a career-high 18 points with nine rebounds in his return to the starting lineup. David Collins added 14 points and Xavier Castaneda had a career high six assists. The Bulls committed 16 turnovers and shot under 17% from three-point range.

USF will face Temple in the opening round of the AAC Tournament in Ft. Worth, TX on Thursday at noon.

Men’s Tennis Takes Care of FAU

After a shaky start to the season, the men have settled in nicely and have won four in a row, including Sunday’s 5-2 win over the FAU Owls.

The Bulls dropped the doubles point, before taking five of six singles matches to earn the win. Chase Ferguson (6-4, 6-0), Jakub Wojcik (6-3, 6-4), Pierre Luqet (6-3, 6-3), Sergio Gomez Montesa (6-2, 6-2), and Alvin Tudorica (6-4, 6-2) dispatched their opposition for the win.

USF has a busy week ahead as they welcome in Liberty on Wednesday. Then they have a doubleheader with Georgia State, and Samford on Saturday, and finish the weekend off with SMU on Sunday, and TCU on Monday.

Cross Country still has a long way to go..

The men’s cross country team finished in last place over the weekend at the FSU Last Chance meet.

Benjamin Kailes led the men with a 35th place finish with a time of 25:58.1. The men’s average time was two minutes slower than fourth place Temple, and nearly four minutes behind first place Syracuse.

The women did a bit better as they took second place in a field of four. Alexandra Weir finished in 13th place to lead the Bulls with a time of 22:42.3.

USF was two minutes behind first place Michigan.