Men’s Golf wins fifth American Athletic Conference Championship, Bergstrom wins individual award

Add another trophy to #ChampaBay with Men’s Golf adding their fifth team title in the last six years in the AAC Conference Tournament at the Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville.

The Bulls opened up the tournament with a record-breaking first round on Friday, shooting a 270 (-18) and leading the field by 15 strokes. SMU roared back in the third round on Sunday shooting -9 to cut the lead to five strokes, but USF built too much of a lead to be overcome. The Bulls three-round score 847 (-17) was good for third best all-time in the tournament.

The story was sophomore Albin Bergstrom’s insane final round (-6) to clinch the individual title - USF’s fourth in the tournament - with a score of -11 and a three stroke lead. Sophomore Luke Gifford and senior Kyle Flexsenhar both tied for eighth overall with a 214 (-2) across the weekend.

The Bulls led the field with 58 total birdies over the weekend - including seven over the final four holes to clinch the championship. Head Coach Steven Bradley adds another conference championship in their first team victory this spring.

USF clinched their eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and will find out which regional they will be selected to on May 5 at 2 p.m. The regionals will take place May 17-19 with the National Championship in Scottsdale, AZ, May 28-June 2.

Men’s Tennis wins two games in AAC Tournament, loses to C. 4-0 in final

USF entered the AAC Tournament on a three match winning streak and looking to compete for their sixth title in seven seasons, but the No. 11 G. Knights had other plans. In a similar scenario to the 2018 championship top-seeded C. faced three-seed USF - but this time avenged their championship loss and won the match 4-0.

The Bulls beat no. 42 Tulsa 4-2 after securing the doubles point for their second straight victory over the Golden Hurricane and then followed suit by dispatching of no. 50 SMU 4-2 to advance to the championship. SMU won the doubles point on a tiebreak and then USF won four straight singles to clinch. Senior Jacob Wojcik had to retire due to injury in his first singles match vs. Tulsa and didn’t play the rest of the weekend.

USF is 19-2 all-time in the AAC Tournament with the only two losses occurring in the championship. The Bulls will look for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament on Monday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. The championships will be held at the USTA National Campus in Orlando May 20-29.

Softball wins 3 of 4 vs. No. 23 Wichita St. behind three stellar outings by Corrick

Star pitcher Georgina Corrick is an absolute magician. In the three games she pitched this weekend vs. the first-place Shockers Corrick pitched three complete games, giving up two earned runs on eight hits, and striking out 29 batters. She won her 18th game and collected her 18th complete game.

USF won Friday’s opener 2-1 scoring runs in the first and fifth innings. The Bulls then lost the doubleheader matinee 14-3 in 5 innings before Corrick shut the door in the night game striking out 12 batters and only allowing three hits in a 3-0 victory. The series clincher saw Corrick give up only three hits and one earned run in the first and slugged a three-run homerun in the fifth to win 8-1. The Bulls scored one run in the third and seven in the fifth.

Did I mention Georgina Corrick is an absolute magician? Her performance earned her AAC Softball Pitcher of the Week. Senior AnaMarie Bruni landed on the Honor Roll batting .500 at the plate with two runs and two stolen bases over the weekend.

The three wins vs. Wichita State has Coach Ken Eriksen at 999 career wins. The Bulls (24-12, 12-3) are tied for first in the AAC with Tulsa and will return home to face ECU (11-29, 2-14) this weekend.

Baseball splits series with Houston, splitting doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday

The Bulls headed to Houston and split both doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday with the Cougars. Freshman pitcher Jack Jasiak gave up only three runs in six innings with five strikeouts in game 1 before the Houston bats exploded for six runs in the seventh after his departure. The Bulls only mustered two runs on seven hits in the 9-0 loss.

In game 2, Houston jumped on pitcher Dylan Burns collecting three runs in two innings before Roberto Peña slugged a homerun to tie the game in the third. Pitchers Orion Kerkering and Logan Lyle combined for five innings giving up no runs and one strikeout as USF plated five runs in the top of the 10th all with two outs in the 8-4 victory.

On Saturday, pitcher Collin Sullivan pitched another gem going the distance in a complete game shutout giving up two hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in a 4-0 victory. In game 2, Houston prevailed 5-2 off a two run first inning and three run seventh. After recording the save the previous evening, Lyle gave up three runs in 2.2 innings of work to register the loss. USF outhit Houston 8-6, but committed three errors and scored only two runs in the third.

USF (15-19, 5-7) will return home to play a four game series vs. Cincinnati (19-18, 8-8.)

Women’s Tennis beats Cincinnati, loses to C. in AAC Tournament

USF entered the American Athletic Conference Tournament on a four match losing streak - all to top 50 programs - before dispatching on nine-seed Cincinnati in the first round, 4-1. The Bearcats won the doubles point before the Bulls won the next four singles match in straight sets. The eight-seeded Bulls then had to face top-seeded C. - whom they lost 7-0 without winning a set earlier in the season - but couldn’t dispatch of the eighth ranked G. Knights as they lost 4-1. The Bulls took the doubles point quickly and the first two singles points before freshman Grace Schumaker secured a point in straight sets until C. shut the door on the next court. USF ends their season with a record of 8-15.

Women’s golf wraps up season with in AAC Tournament in Pinehurst, N.C.

Earlier in the week the women’s golf team competed in the AAC Tournament and placed sixth in the ten-team field with a 905 (+41.) The difficult course had champs Tulsa shooting an 888 (+24) and last place Wichita State shooting a 966 (+102.) Freshman Melanie Green finished the competition placed fourth with a 220 (+4) - just five strokes off the individual lead.

Track and Field continues success at UCF Knights Invite

The USF Track and Field team continues to rise as a program competing in the UCF Knights Invite and finishing eight events in first place and five events in second place rewriting the USF record book along the way. Stone Baker (Men’s Pole Vault), David Ajama (Men’s Triple Jump), Johann Jeremiah (Men’s Shot Put) and the 400 relay and 1600 relay teams all claimed first place for the men while Stephanie Lambeth (Women’s Pole Vault), Shaniya Benjamin (Women’s Long Jump), and Jae’Nisa Heckstall (Women’s 400 Hurdles) claimed first for the women. Jeremiah (Men’s Discuss Throw), Ajama (Men’s High Jump), Shaneylix Davila (Women’s 100 Hurdles), Dee Jennings (Men’s 110 Hurdles), and Danelson Mahautiere (Men’s 100 Dash) all finished in second place in their respective categories.

USF will compete in the final event for the spring regular season in Jacksonville at the UNF Team Invite this weekend.