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Walkoff weekend: USF baseball does it again

 
Published April 28, 2013|Updated April 29, 2013

It's quite a story that USF baseball is 12-2 in the Big East and sitting atop the conference standings, but how the Bulls are winning -- late in games, if not later -- continues to be all the more incredible.

The Bulls (28-15) won in the bottom of the 13th inning, getting an RBI single from shortstop Kyle Teaf to outlast St. John's for a 5-4 victory. This came one night after the Bulls won in the 10th inning on Nik Alfonso's RBI fielder's choice. It's nine times now that USF has won games in its final at-bat -- the Bulls say that's the most of any team in the nation. It's also their fifth extra-inning win in the last nine games.

The unsung hero in these late-game wins has been USF's bullpen, which came through for 6.2 innings of scoreless relief Saturday. Chad Taylor threw 2.2 innings Saturday, striking out four, and Janick Serralonga added 2.1 with only one hit. Steven Leasure pitched a scoreless 13th for his second win of the season.

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USF wraps up the three-game series this afternoon in Tampa, and the Bulls have a one-game lead on Pittsburgh (11-3) and two on Louisville (12-4), with three more weekends left before the Big East tournament in Clearwater. The Bulls' RPI continues to rise as well -- up to 86 at WarrenNolan.com.