USF Takes on UCONN

Coach Prado and his team could be in for a rough weekend when they visit UCONN (Picture: www.gousfbulls.com)

The Bulls, after an embarrassing performance against UCF, now sit at 22-22 (11-7) on the year and travel to take on UCONN Saturday night. The game, usually started on Friday night, was moved to work with finals at UCONN. USF is going to face a tough challenge in this series and could be in for a rough weekend. [keep reading]

USF enters the game looking for someone to step up on offense. Jonathan Koscso is still the only Bull hitting over .300, hitting .329 but has 0 homeruns and 0 RBI on the season. Junior Carlin is hitting .277 with 17 RBI on the year, he has to get the offense moving and move Koscso by hitting in the second spot. Sam Mende is hitting .276 with 27 RBI and 4 homeruns. Todd Brazeal, the "power" of the Bulls offense, is hitting .265 with 5 homeruns and 33 RBI, he has to come up big in this series to help the USF offense get some runs scored.

The Bulls are led by Randy Fontanez who will be making one of his last starts as a Bull. Fontanez is the most consistent pitcher for the Bulls and one of the best in the Big East. He enters the game with a record of 5-3, an ERA of 2.59 and an opponents batting average of just .230. He has worked 80 innings this season, striking out 68 batters and walking just 8. He will have to go the distance in the first game and really command and attack the strike zone against the Huskies.

UCONN is 31-13 (15-3) on the season (yikes) and are 12-1 at home, so right off, USF is in trouble (we are 8-11 in away games, numbers aren't so great for us). The Huskies are led by George Spring who is hitting an insane .371 on the season with 9 homeruns and 62 RBI. Mike Nemeth is hitting .360 with 3 homeruns and 40 RBI and LJ Mazzilli is hitting .352 with 2 homeruns and 23 RBI. Most of the UCONN hitters are hitting over .300 this season so Fontanez better be at his best or it could be a rough night.

UCONN has an ace pitcher of their own, Matt Barnes, who is 8-3 on the year with an ERA of just 1.41 and holding opponents to a batting average of just .164 (good luck guys).

First pitch is scheduled for Saturday night at 6 PM, followed by day game Sunday at 1 PM, and a series finale on Monday at 1 PM. The Bulls have to get two wins here or the season will pretty much be a done case at that point. The Bulls have had a rough season and it could get ugly in this one.