The USF Bulls completed a sweep of Georgia Southern this weekend with a 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Red McEwen Field. The Bulls have now won six games in a row.
Right-hander Landon Yorek made his first start of the season for USF, and he was sharp in his first outing, allowing just one run and four hits through five and two-thirds innings. Yorek also had six strikeouts and just one walk in his outing Sunday afternoon.
Georgia Southern was the first to get on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning when catcher Sean White hit a ball over the left field wall and off the scoreboard for a solo home run to put the Eagles up 1-0.
After scoring 38 runs in the last two games as USF won by scores of 9-7 and 29-4 on Friday and Saturday, runs were tough to come by in the finale against Georgia Southern. USF could muster only two hits through five innings, and the Bulls trailed 1-0 after five innings.
Jevin Relaford singled with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Ryan Pruitt flied out to left field to end the inning, and Georgia Southern maintained their 1-0 lead after six innings
The Eagles would score another run in the seventh inning. A walk, followed by a double, put runners on second and third. Then a grounder to second scored Bennett Edwards, and Georgia Southern suddenly had a 2-0 lead.
Finally, in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulls’ offense came alive. After a fly out to left to start the inning, Jake Kulikowski singled, and Nathan Early would follow that with a double to put runners at second and third with one out. Eli Thomas grounded to second, scoring Kulikowski, as Early advanced to third to give the Bulls their first run of the game and make the score 2-1. Lance Trippel would then single to right, scoring Early to tie the game 2-2.
The Eagles would get one run across in the top of the eighth. A walk to Sean White, followed by a hit batsman and a passed ball, would put runners at first and third with one out. Nico Senese would then hit a grounder to second, scoring John Davis from third to put the Eagles back in front 3-2 after eight innings.
With USF needing one run to tie and two runs to win in the bottom of the ninth, Jake Kulikowski led off the inning with a double, giving the Bulls the tying run at second with no outs. Following a Nathan Early strikeout, Eli Thomas had an infield single, putting runners on the corners with just one out. Lance Trippel then singled to left, scoring Gabe Graulau, who pinch ran for Kulikowski, to tie the game at 3-3.
Jack Lutz was hit by the pitch to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Jacob Green then hit a fly ball deep enough to right field to score Thomas from third, and the Bulls had their seventh win of the season, 4-3, to earn the weekend sweep against Georgia Southern.
Green talked about his last at-bat to drive in the go-ahead run. “I’ve been in similar situations before, and I saw that the infielders were in, and all I was trying to do was get the barrel on it,” he said. “A ground ball, a sac-fly would work.”
Landon O’Donnell got his first win of the season for USF while Will Robbins took the loss for Georgia Southern. The Eagles are still looking for their first win of the season as they fall to 0-7. USF is now 7-1 on the season.
The Bulls will play in-state foe Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday before heading to Orlando next weekend to face UCF in a three-game series.