Baseball: Bulls Travel to 'Nova for 3 Game Series

[Brad]

Courtesy USF SID

USF Travels To Villanova For Three-Game Conference Series

TAMPA, Fla. (April 12, 2007) – The University of South Florida Bulls (25-10, 8-4 BIG EAST) will travel to Pennsylvania to play the Villanova Wildcats (14-14, 3-6 BIG EAST) in a three-game BIG EAST weekend series April 13-15.  

The Bulls and Wildcats take the field at 3 p.m. on Friday, then at noon on both Saturday and Sunday in Pennsylvania.  

The Bulls and Wildcats have only met twice prior to the 2007 series, with USF taking the home victory in both games. The Bulls won the first meeting on March 23, 1975, then 10 years later, took a 10-2 victory on March 4, 1985.

USF enters the weekend series after taking 2-of-3 from West Virginia April 5-7. The Bulls won the first two games by a total of 17-13, but lost to the Mountaineers 16-5 Saturday afternoon, dropping their record to 25-10 overall and 8-4 in the BIG EAST.  

USF is batting .307 with 356 hits in 1159 at bats. The Bulls notched four home runs last weekend, increasing their season total to 16. USF also has 55 doubles, five triples and 173 drawn walks. USF has scored 264 runs while allowing only 192 against. The Bulls own a 4.07 earned run average after allowing 324 hits and 141 earned runs in 312 innings. USF has struck out 244 batters and walked 139.  

Following a Wednesday night win over St. Peter’s, the Wildcats are 1-4 in the last five games and 14-14 overall. In the BIG EAST, Villanova won two over Seton Hall, one against Louisville and was swept by St. John’s to produce a 3-6 conference record.  

Villanova is batting .302 in 28 games, with 292 hits, 42 of which are doubles and 11 are home runs. The Wildcats have tallied 187 runs and 154 hits and drawn 122 walks. On the mound VU has allowed 292 hits and 182 runs, posting a 5.26 ERA. The staff has allowed 56 doubles, eight triples and 12 home runs while walking 120 batters.  

Individually, USF junior shortstop Walter Diaz is currently riding a 17-game hitting streak, dating back to the Miami (Ohio) game March 13. Diaz is 30-for-68 (.441) in the past 17 games with 14 RBI and 18 runs scored. He has registered three doubles, a triple and a home run while drawing 19 walks, one of which was intentional. Diaz has also stolen eight bases in that time.  

The longest hitting streak in the past nine seasons at USF was Johnny Rayburn’s 20 in 1999 and 2000. Rayburn collected hits in 19-straight games to end the 1999 season, then added one more in 2000 before going hitless in the second game of that season.

Offensively, the Wildcats are led by Derek Shunk’s .434 batting average and his team-high 22 RBI, 49 hits, 62 total bases and .549 slugging percentage.  

Following the weekend series in Pennsylvania, the Bulls will host UCF at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at Red McEwen Field.

[JoeB]

Need a solid weekend from the Baseball team.  Lets go Danny O, start the weekend out right for us.

[SeaBull]

To get live stats for this Game and for others around the Big East, check out

http://www.ncaa-baseball.com/daily/041307.htm

PS. Stetson is ranked #30

[Bulls 8_va]

Is Yuri pitching this weekend?  I hope he gets a better game than last Sat.

GO BASEBULLS!!!