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Big East puts three baseball teams in NCAAs
Three Big East teams -- Louisville, Connecticut and tournament champion St. John's -- will represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament, matching the league's biggest NCAA contingent ever.
Louisville is a top-eight seed as the No. 7 seed in the tournament, and Connecticut is also hosting a four-team regional while making its first appearance since 1994. St. John's is in the tournament for the third time in four years after winning its first Big East tournament in 13 years on Sunday.
In all, the state of Florida had six teams make the NCAA field: Florida, Florida State and Miami, as well as Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Bethune-Cookman. The Big East also had three teams in the NCAAs in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2007.
USF went 4-15 against teams that made the NCAA field, its wins coming against Mercer (2-1), Connecticut (1-2) and St. John's (1-3). The Bulls also faced Louisville (0-1), Florida (0-4), Miami (0-2) and Oklahoma (0-2).
Mende, Llerena sparked Bulls in final rally
It's hard to find offseason momentum from a season-ending loss, but as USF baseball searches for positives from a disappointing 2010 season, they'll point to the way the Bulls rallied from a 7-1 deficit to force extra innings against top-seeded Louisville on Friday night.
Down six runs during a sixth-inning rain delay, it would have been easy for the Bulls to phone in the final innings of their season. Instead, they battled, getting four runs in the eighth and an unlikely tying run with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth before ultimately falling 9-7 in 11 innings.
"It's probably the best baseball we've played all year," said shortstop Sam Mende, who had four hits, including a two-run home run in the eighth. "We've had ups and downs all year ... It's tough. I hate ending, especially doing it that way. ... I haven't seen attitudes like that since last year." ... Read more
Bulls' season ends in wild 9-7 loss to Louisville
Guys, will have lots more on this in the morning -- wild finish to USF's season Friday night and into Saturday morning here at Bright House Field. ...
CLEARWATER – Down to its last strike of the season, USF rallied to tie top-seeded Louisville in the bottom of the ninth, only to see the two-time defending Big East champions prevail 9-7 with a two-run home run in the 11th.
The Bulls (26-32) trailed 7-1 before a 53-minute rain delay in the sixth inning, and came out of the rain a different team, rallying for four runs in the eighth, two on a home run by Clearwater’s Sam Mende.
Second baseman Luis Llerena, down 0-2 with two outs in the ninth and facing the last strike of the season, worked the count full, then sent a shot over the left-field wall to tie the game with his first home run of the year. Llerena said it was his first home run since his junior year in high school in 2006.
"Our guys fought hard, fought back, fought like crazy," coach Lelo Prado said. "Both games we lost, that's our season. That's tough to take." ... Read more
Live blog: USF baseball vs. Louisville
Tell me if this sounds familiar: Greetings from Bright House Field in Clearwater, where USF will try to extend its season another day in an elimination game against top-seeded Louisville in the Big East baseball tournament.
We'll be live-blogging throughout the game -- first pitch was set for 7 p.m., but the Pitt-UConn game is still in the seventh, and with a 40-minute break between games, it's looking more like 7:30 at the earliest. (UPDATE: First pitch is 8:03.) Senior Teddy Kaufman, out the past month with a forearm injury, will return against a potent lineup -- check back for updates and notes throughout the game ...
Bulls, Prado face familiar foe in Louisville
USF baseball coach Lelo Prado will get a shot at his old school, as the Bulls will face top-seeded Louisville on Friday night in an elimination game in the Big East tournament at Bright House Field.
The Cardinals, two-time defending league champions, were upset 6-5 by St. John's on Thursday night -- technically, the game ended at 12:46 Friday morning -- putting the Red Storm in Saturday's semifinals, where they'll face the Bulls-Cardinals winner.
USF didn't play Louisville this season, but the Bulls have faced Prado's old school nine times since he came to USF, going 2-7 in those games. Prado coached 11 seasons at Louisville from 1996-2006, winning 320 games with the Cardinals.
Final USF starts for Fontanez, Barbosa?
Junior pitchers Randy Fontanez and Andrew Barbosa came through with solid starts for USF on back-to-back nights in the Big East tournament, with Fontanez going into the ninth in a loss to St. John's and Barbosa pitching seven innings for a win Thursday against West Virginia.
But have they pitched their final games for the Bulls? Both are eligible for next month's MLB draft and have drawn their share of pro scouts this season -- Fontanez led the Big East with 105 strikeouts and Barbosa, a 6-foot-8 left-hander, led the league with a 2.40 ERA and was second with 95 strikeouts.
"Yeah," Barbosa said, asked if he had thought about the possibility he had pitched his last college game. "But I don't think about that. Whatever happens, happens. I'm trying to play baseball."
USF has lost one junior in each of the last three drafts, with pitcher Shawn Sanford last summer, shortstop Addison Maruszak in 2008 and second baseman Walter Diaz in 2007. ... Read more
Two-out kings: Bulls stay alive with 10-5 win
CLEARWATER -- Knowing its next loss would be its last of the season, USF stepped up with clutch hitting Thursday night, driving in nine runs with two outs in a 10-5 win against West Virginia in the Big East tournament at Bright House Field.
"It's a positive sign to score 10 runs and get 12 hits," said coach Lelo Prado, still frustrated by the lack of offense a night earlier in a 3-2 loss to St. John's. "For us to win, we're going to have to put some good innings together. We did that today and we won, so we live for tomorrow."
The Bulls advance to play Friday night at 7 against the loser of Thursday night's Louisville-St. John's game in another elimination game.
The Bulls (26-31) got a strong seven innings from 6-foot-8 junior left-hander Andrew Barbosa, who struck out eight and held West Virginia to six hits. For support, he got a three-run home run from Todd Brazeal in the third inning to erase a 2-0 deficit. ... Read more
Live blog: USF baseball vs. West Virginia
Back here at Bright House Field, where Connecticut and Rutgers are taking their time with their second-round game -- it started at 1:33, but is just in the bottom of the sixth at 3:52, suggesting that USF's scheduled 5 p.m. game against West Virginia might be closer to a 5:30 start. (UPDATE: First pitch is officially 5:41.)
Whenever it gets underway -- the Weather.com forecast calls for a 35 percent chance of rain from 6 p.m. on -- we'll have a live blog here from the game. Is this the Bulls' final game of the season? Can 6-foot-8 lefty Andrew Barbosa keep the Bulls alive for another day? All these questions and more will be answered tonight.
Public-records hearing on Leavitt case June 9
Attorneys for former USF football coach Jim Leavitt will present their case to make public the records from USF's investigation that led to his firing during a hearing in Hillsborough County Circuit Court on June 9.
Four key USF administrators, including President Judy Genshaft and athletic director Doug Woolard, have been served subpoenas to testify at the public-records hearing, according to Leavitt's attorney, Wil Florin. Steven Preveaux, USF's general counsel, has also been subpoenaed according to Florin, along with Sandy Lovins, USF associate vice president for human resources, who oversaw the university's investigation along with an outside attorney. Leavitt may testify at the hearing as well, and additional hearings for the lawsuit have been scheduled in court for July 27-28. ... Read more
Ali watches son's team at Big East baseball
Easily the most impressive sight from the first day of the Big East baseball tournament at Bright House Field in Clearwater was boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who watched Wednesday night's Louisville-West Virginia game with his wife Lonnie from a second-level suite behind home plate.
Ali's son, Asaad, is a freshman on the Louisville baseball team, redshirting this season while working as the team's bullpen catcher. The Cardinals have tried this season not to draw huge attention to Ali's presence around the team, wanting Asaad to be able to establish his own identity.
"It's awesome," said Louisville's Ryan Wright, who had a three-run home run and five RBIs in Wednesday's 11-4 win. "Obviously some consider him the greatest athlete ever to live. He's been to a few (games) but it's still very neat. You watch TV, and you almost hear a Muhammad Ali reference every day, and you think 'Wow, that guy has seen a couple of our baseball games.' It means a lot." ... Read more
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South Florida Bulls fans, you've come to the right place: the USF Sports Bulletin blog. Tampa Bay Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin, and we invite your participation in the comments area.
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