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USF ousted from conference baseball tournament

 
Published May 23, 2015

CLEARWATER — Its regular season finished, USF has the rest of the weekend to consider its postseason fate, and the rest of the millennium to contemplate a most critical gaffe.

The Bulls (33-24-1) stranded 10 runners and neglected a heady one from Memphis in Friday's 4-1 loss to the Tigers (37-20) in an American Athletic Conference tournament elimination game at Bright House Field.

The Bulls have a solid RPI (No. 27 as of Friday afternoon) and a schedule ranked ninth by warrennolan.com but lost 10 of their past 16 and must wait for the NCAA Selection Show at noon Monday to see if it makes the postseason tournament.

"Everything they ask you to do — finish well in your league, play a tough schedule and have success — we've done," said Bulls coach Mark Kingston, whose team was 8-14 against top-50 RPI foes. "So we're going to go into Monday thinking that we'll get in."

With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the sixth, one out and Tigers catcher Carter White on second, freshman Brandon Montgomery hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Kyle Teaf, who helped catch White in a rundown between second and third to get the second out. But Montgomery took second during the rundown, then went to third when he saw the Bulls left it uncovered. And when catcher Levi Borders moved several feet down the baseline, Carter dashed home and the throw to Borders was wide.

USF managed only one hit over the final three innings.

Connecticut beat Tulane 7-6, eliminating the Green Wave. Today, Houston faces Memphis at 10 a.m. and East Carolina plays UConn at 1 p.m. with elimination games to follow if needed.

ACC: Miami faced North Carolina State late Friday at the league tournament in Durham, N.C., with both looking to improve to 2-0 in Pool B. Florida State faces Louisville at 11 a.m. today with the winner capturing Pool A and a spot in Sunday's title game.

SEC: Florida defeated Arkansas 10-0 in Hoover, Ala., to stay alive. The fourth-seeded Gators (42-16) face No. 1 LSU today at about 4:30 (SEC Network).

Softball: FSU ousted

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Florida State was eliminated in the third and final game of its Super Region with a 2-1 loss at Tennessee, missing out on the Women's College World Series. The Seminoles (48-13) won the first game 6-1 as freshman Jessica Warren of Alonso High was 3-for-3 with two homers and three RBIs. Top seed and defending champion Florida (53-6) opens its best-of-three series today at home at 1 p.m. (ESPNU) against SEC rival Kentucky (32-24).

Golf: The Saint Leo men reached Thursday's semifinals at Division II NCAA match play, the school's best finish in any sport, before losing 4-1 to eventual champ Lynn in Conover, N.C. … Florida's Karolina Vlckova shot 7-over 79 in Round 1 of the NCAA Championships at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton. Only 75 of 132 players finished because of lightning delays.

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Tennis: Florida's Josie Kuhlman beat Cal's Maegan Manasse 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA individual women's singles in Waco, Texas. Today Kuhlman faces Miami's Sinead Lohan. In doubles, UF's Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan beat Georgia's Lauren Herring and Ellen Perez to reach today's quarterfinals. … In men's doubles, USF's Oliver Pramming and Justin Roberts lost to Michigan State's Harry Jadun and John Patrick in the Round of 16.

Football: North Carolina got a notice of allegations letter from the NCAA, which re-opened a probe into academic irregularities last year. … Officials from both Army and Navy said they won't move the date of their annual game, which is the week after conference championship games, though it could affect College Football Playoff matchups. Former Oklahoma running back Keith Ford said he's transferring to Texas A&M.

Times correspondent Jeff Odom and Times wires contributed to this report.