USF Baseball Set to Take on Notre Dame

The USF Bulls continue their long home stand as they welcome Big East foe Notre Dame to Tampa for a key 3-game series over the weekend. 

USF enters the weekend with a record of 18-8 (3-0).  Notre Dame is 15-7 (3-0) on the year, but just 1-3 away from home this year.  Last season, ND swept the Bulls in South Bend, so Prado and company will be looking to return the favor this season.  The Bulls have been getting incredible pitching so far this season, but will need to be at their best when they face the Irish in this series (game tonight scheduled for 7PM, game on Friday scheduled for 6PM, and the series wraps up on Sunday at 1PM).

ND is led by junior catcher Joe Hudson (6-1 205-pounds) who is batting .408 on the season with 2 home runs and has driven in 20 RBIs so far.  Sophomore infielder Eric Jagielo (6-3 215-pounds) is batting .348 with 4 home runs and has 19 RBIs on the year.  Sophomore 1B Trey Maneini (6-5 225-pounds) is batting .337 with 3 home runs and has 21 RBIs (big time run producers up and down their batting order). Junior infielder Frank Desico (5-9 190-pounds) is batting .352 with 6 doubles and has 12 RBIs on the year and freshman catcher/outfielder Ryan Bulls (6-2 210-pounds) is batting .262 with 1 home run and has 10 RBIs on the season to round out the top of their batting order.

The Irish pitching staff is led by junior RHP Will Hudging (6-4 200-pounds) who is 3-1 on the year with a 1.08 ERA.  He has pitched 41.2 innings, allowing 26 hits, 9 walks, and has struck out 47 batters.  Junior RHP Adam Norton (6-1 190-pounds) is 3-1 (3.74 ERA) while working 43.1 innings, walking 2 batters and has struck out 26.  Sophomore RHP Dan Slania (6-5 275-pounds) is 2-0 with 6 saves.  He has pitched 12.2 innings, allowing 19 hits, 3 walks, and has struck out 15 batters.  Junior RHP Patrick Veerkamp (6-3 205-pounds) is 2-0 with 13 innings pitched, allowing 13 hits, 6 walks, and has struck out 9 batters. One thing to note with the ND pitching staff is the low number of walks they give up.  Pitchers like Hudging put the ball in play, giving up hits, but allowing their defense to get the outs.  The Bulls hitters won't see too many free passes over the weekend.

This is a critical series for the Bulls.  After this game, they have another home game vs. Stetson before hitting the road for an extended time in conference play, so they need to notch as many wins as they can while in Tampa to improve their standings and to get ready for the difficult teams they will face.