USF Athletics Weekend Round-Up

Women’s Basketball falls to Miami (FL) in first round of NCAA Tournament, 78-66

USF fell to the Hurricanes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament despite shooting 40% from the floor and 40% (9-22) from beyond the arc thanks in part to a 24-11 deficit after the first quarter that the Bulls just couldn’t overcome. Miami shot 53% from the floor in the game and 61% in the first half alone, but a 10-2 run cut the lead to 11 at the half thanks to a Sydni Harvey three-pointer at the buzzer. Unfortunately, Miami was too deep and too successful in the paint. The Hurricane bench outscored USF’s 29-9 and Miami had a 36-22 advantage scoring in the paint. Elena Tsineke did her part scoring 21 points on 7-16 from the field - 2-5 from three-point range. Elisa Pinzan added 19 points on 7-16 shooting and 3-9 from three-point range and seven rebounds.

USF ends their season 24-9, 12-3. On one hand this is a disappointing end to a season full of hype. On the other, a 24-win year with wins over Stanford and Oregon being “disappointing” shows the progress of the program under Jose Fernandez. But we’re still all wondering what happened after the Bahamas.

Women’s Tennis beats Wichita St., loses to no. 37 Tulsa

On Friday, the Bulls beat Wichita St., 5-2 in part due to the Shockers only having five active players and forfeiting one doubles and singles match. Sophomore Margriet Timmermans and freshman Grace Shumacher won their doubles match to secure the point leaving USF with a 2-0 lead. Schumacher, Timmermans, and junior Laura Pellicer all won their singles matches despite dropping their first sets to secure the victory for the Bulls.

On Sunday, USF lost to Tulsa 4-0. The Bulls lost the doubles point and the Golden Hurricane swept all of the singles matches.

USF (4-11) will face Houston on Friday.

No. 65 Men’s Tennis loses matches to no. 2 TCU and no. 42 SMU

On Saturday, USF dropped their match with TCU 6-1 as the Horned Frogs secured the doubles point and never looked back. Alvin Tudorica won USF’s only point over an opponent ranked no. 73 in the nation. TCU had four singles players ranked including two ranked in the top-15 in the nation.

On Sunday, the Bulls headed to Dallas where they dropped their match at SMU 5-2. USF was awarded the doubles point after Chase Ferguson and Ivan Yatsuk delivered the tiebreaker victory and took a 2-0 lead as Alvin Tudorica won his singles match in straight sets. However, SMU fired back winning all remaining singles matches to take the game.

USF (8-8) will face VCU on Friday and Cornell on Sunday.

Baseball wins series vs. Mercer

On Friday, USF beat Mercer 10-2 behind a potent offense and solid pitching by Orion Kerkering. The sophomore pitched six innings with seven strikeouts giving up only one earned run and junior Devin Hemenway shut the down with two strikeouts himself securing his first save of the year. The offense had ten hits in a game that finally broke through in the fourth scoring five runs off a pair of RBI by Daniel Cantu and Carmine Lane in addition to a Drew Brutcher bomb to center. USF added another four in the fifth and Jackson Mayo slugged his third homer of the year in the seventh. Mayo and Matt Ruiz both went 3-4 on the day.

On Saturday, the tides changed as USF turned to freshman Dylan Vega for the start in a 14-6 loss in which he gave up six hits and four runs in three innings pitched. The Mercer offense was humming regardless of who the Bulls had on the mound with 17 hits and four homeruns. Reserve catcher Joaquin Monque went 2-2 with a pair of RBI doubles to lead USF on offense.

In the rubber match, USF took a 2-0 deficit into the bottom of the ninth before a sacrifice fly by Daniel Cantu and a two-out wild pitch tied the game. Lane then delivered with another Sunday walk-off with an RBI single up the middle to claim the series. There’s something magical about those Sunday Golds. Jack Jasiak returned to the mound giving up an earned run and striking out four in just over three innings of work. Hunter Mink and Nolan Hudi went the rest of the way only giving up a hit apiece.

USF (13-7) will head to Fort Myers on Tuesday before returning home for a weekend series vs. Niagara.

Softball

On Friday, Georgina Corrick - fresh off her first loss and second earned run of the season - took matters into her own hands delivering a 2-0 win over Lehigh. Corrick pitched another complete game shutout with 13 strikeouts and even slugged her first homer of the season to break a 0-0 tie.

On Saturday, USF split the doubleheader with Purdue and Ohio State beating Purdue 3-1 and losing to Ohio State 9-0. Corrick pitched another complete game giving up another solo homerun to the Boilermakers, but shutting down the rest of the lineup in the victory. Corrick concluded the game giving up only three hits and striking out 12 including back-to-back punch-outs to get out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth. The Bulls took the lead in the sixth off of Jose Foreman’s RBI double and never looked back. Corrick continues to break records surpassing USF legend Sarah Nevins in career innings pitched in a Bulls jersey with 846.1. In the second game, Ohio State took the lead in the first with Lexie Kopko in the circle and proceeded to score three runs off of each USF pitcher to complete the run-rule loss.

On Sunday, the Bulls split their games beating Canisius 8-0 in run-rule fashion and losing to St. Thomas (MN) 10-4. Corrick pitched another complete game shutout - her 12th on the season - picking up her 21st victory in the matinee. She struck out eight and only walked two. The offense scored one run in the first and never looked back. Vivian Ponn went 2-3 with two RBI and Josie Foreman went 3-3 driving in three runs. Game two was a different story as the Bulls could only score four runs on eight hits despite taking a 4-1 lead into the fourth. Erin Poepping, Lexie Kopko, and Antoinette Hill combined to give up 10 runs on 14 hits while striking out three and walking four. Four of those runs were unearned.

The Bulls still have only lost one game in which Corrick has pitched.

USF (26-6) will face Canisius on Tuesday before opening conference play at home vs. C. on Friday.

Track and Field competes in Hurricane Invitational

The outdoor track and field competition is in full swing as USF headed to Coral Gables to compete in the Hurricane Invitational over the weekend. The Bulls had four first place finishes with Sophomore Patricija Roshofa in the Women’s 800m, Junior Stone Baker in the Men’s Pole Vault, Senior Eron Carter in the Men’s Discuss Throw and Men’s Hammer Throw, and Junior Romaine Beckford in the Men’s Javelin Throw. USF added second and third place finishes in Junior Sanique Walker (Women’s 800m), Sophomore Kendall McDaniel (Women’s Long Jump), Junior Justin Bridgewater (Men’s 800m), Freshman Kendall Mosley (Men’s High Jump), Senior Eron Carter (Men’s Hammer Throw), and the Men’s 4x400 team.

USF will next to head to Tallahassee for the FSU Relays Thursday through Friday