Heading into USF’s series opener on April 2 against Memphis, the Bulls led the American Conference (AAC) in ERA while Memphis sat in last. Both teams maintained their levels of pitching in a 2-1 USF series win at Red McEwen Field.
Memphis began Game 1 with third basemen Freddy Rodriguez hitting a single before advancing to second after a throwing error by Bulls starting pitcher Edwin Alicea. Tigers second basemen Shane Cox batted Rodriguez in with a single of his own to put Memphis up 1-0.
USF tied it up in the third when outfielder Jacob Green’s first triple of the outing sent shortstop Jevin Relaford home. A sacrifice fly to center field from Nathan Earley sent left fielder Jake Kulikowski home for a 2-1 lead one inning later.
No other NCAA Division I team has more sacrifice flies than the Bulls (29), who managed to score one in all three games. The team also entered the series with the sixth highest fielding percentage in D1 (.985) and the eighth least errors (15).
With two outs in the top of the sixth, USF had two errors on the same play, putting catcher Jack Pitts on second.
Following a pop up out from Tigers centerfielder Michael Gupton ended the half-inning, USF scored its third run of the day when second basemen Bradke Lohry hit a liner to Tigers pitcher Seth Garner. The ball hit Garner in the lower body — temporarily incapacitating him — while center fielder Ryan Pruitt crossed home during the commotion.
A single up the middle from Bulls first baseman Joey Brenczewski batted in Earley to end the seventh with a 4-1 lead, but the eighth blew the game wide open.
After another scoreless half-inning, Jacob Dienes entered the game in relief for Garner.
Dienes walked Pruitt, followed by a Lohry bunt, and Kulikowski ground out. Dienes then hit catcher Lance Trippel, loading the bases as pinch hitter Matt Rose stepped up to bat.
Facing a 2-2 count, Rose popped a ball over first base that hugged the right foul line for a double which batted in all three runners. Dienes hitting Bulls third basemen Jack Lutz with a pitch the next at-bat prompted the Tigers to replace him with Aiden Steht.
The first base hit on Steht was from Green, who hit his second triple, batting in Lutz and Rose in the process. Green is the first Bull to hit two triples in a game since 2018.
Green made it home after a single to left field from Relaford, for the game’s final run, and a 10-1 Bulls win.
Game 1’s ending was all USF, but the start of Game 2 was all Memphis.
The Tigers scored six of their seven runs in the first two innings, while USF scored all four of its runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
A RBI from Tigers catcher Trae Cassidy got Rodriguez home, then a left-field homerun from Gupton jumped Memphis out to 4-0 after the first. The flurry of runs led to Bulls starting pitcher Landen Yorek leaving the mound after 1.1 innings for Dominic Pontbriant.
Cassidy was also responsible for both runs in the second, hitting a single to bat in Rodriguez again and left fielder Jack Little.
USF’s first score in the sixth was from a sacrifice fly by Kulikowski to get Relaford home. A solo home run from Trippel, and a double RBI by Relaford made up the Bulls three remaining runs. Trippel’s homer was the Bulls tenth of the season and increased his consecutive hit streak to 16.
The Bulls were undefeated in games where they scored a home run until this game.
Game 3 proved to be a bounce back for the Bulls, beating Memphis 5-0 due in large part to starting pitcher Michael Senay.
Senay began the series with the lowest ERA (1.54) among D1 pitchers who have pitched over 45 innings this season.
The freshman phenom kept the Tigers hitless through the first four innings, reducing his ERA to an AAC lowest 1.34 by game’s end.
The closest Memphis got to a run was the top of the sixth —where despite loading the bases —
Senay struck out Cox and catcher Brady McAbee flied out.
USF’s first run came in the first inning, when a single from Rose was enough to get Pruitt from third to home. A homer from Kulikowski the next inning doubled the Tigers deficit, and a RBI from Lohry made the score 3-0 after the sixth.
Following just one walk and four hits through 89 pitches across seven innings, pitcher Ethan Sutton relieved Senay. Sutton threw a perfect game the rest of the way to complete USF’s first shutout since March 21.
USF widened the run gap to five after back-to-back RBIs from Rose and Juan Correa in the eighth.
Soon after the Bulls host Florida Gulf Coast University on April 7 at 1 p.m., three pivotal games against UTSA from April 10-12 may decide which of the two teams end the series with a top two spot in the AAC.