USF Baseball Takes on Minnesota

The Bulls are playing their third game in as many days in the final round of the Big Ten/Big East Challenge (faced Ohio State and Michigan State to open the season).  USF is 2-0 on the season thanks to a walk-off home run by Andrew Longley to top the Spartans.  The Bulls are hoping to carry the momentum over as they take on the Gophers.

The Golden Gophers are coming off of a 25-24 (13-11) campaign in 2011.  They are 1-1 on the season, losing 1 to 6 to St. John's the other day.  They return a solid group of players, but do not have a lot of power in their batting order.  None the less, the Bulls have to come out and battle for this win (game starts at 1PM pending the weather, just all weekend with rain coming in off the gulf). 

Minnesota is led by junior outfielder JT Canakes (6-3 215-pounds) (played in just 4 games for the Gophers last season).  He hit .286 last year with 1 triple and had a .375 OBP.  He will have to play more this season with the chances he is being given.  Sophomore infielder Dan Olinger (6-2 190-pounds - Left handed batter) batted .265 last year with 18 RBIs and had a .336 OBP.  He went 2 for 4 in the last game and brings a hot bat into the game. 

Junior 2nd baseman Patt Puhl (6-5 220-pounds) had .252 batting average last year with 2 home runs, 7 doubles, and drove in 18 runs.  He went 1 for 4 yesterday. Junior infielder/outfielder Troy Larson (6-0 176-pounds) hit .250 last year with 17 RBIs.  Senior third baseman Kyle Geason (6-2 200-pounds) hit .243 last year with 1 home run and 23 RBIs to balance a solid returning lineup for the Gophers in this game. 

On the pitching side of things, sophomore left hander Tom Windle (6-3 195-pounds) returns after going 6-2 with a 1.52 ERA last year.  He pitching 41.1 innings, allowing 35 hits and held opponents to a .227 batting average.  Junior right hander T.J. Oakes (6-5 225-pounds) went 5-5 last year with a 3.26 ERA.  He worked 85.2 innings, allowing 93 hits and struck out 52 batters while holding batters to a .285 batting average. Junior right hander Billy Soule (6-1 170-pounds) went 3-2 with 1 save and an ERA with 3.55 (key man coming out of the bullpen.  He went 38 innings, allowing 38 hits, walking 24 and striking out 29 while holding opponents to a .264 batting average.

USF could close out a strong weekend with a big win here.  Senior ace Andrew Barbosa will make the start and could give the Bulls a strong performance to close out the weekend!