USF Faces Pitt in Elimination Game

The Bulls, 34-21 (17-11), are facing elimination today as they take on Pitt, 28-27, hoping to keep the season going.  USF lost 2 to 7 last night after leaving 14 base runners on.  They will try to get back to work today against Pitt, a team the Bulls took 2 out of 3 against in the regular season (game begins at 5PM).

Pitt is led by senior 1B/C Rick Devereaux (6-0 190-pounds) who is batting .370 on the season with 7 home runs, 15 doubles, and has 54 RBIs on the year.  Sophomore outfielder Casey Roche (6-0 175-pounds) is batting .327 with 3 home runs, 17 doubles, and has 44 RBIs on the season.  Freshman outfielder Boo Vazquez (6-4 200-pounds) is batting .323 with 1 home run and has 19 RBIs.  Senior C/3B Anthony DeFabio (5-7 195-pounds) is batting .313 with 4 home runs, 16 doubles, and has 33 RBIs.  The batting order is rounded out by freshman catcher Elvin Soto (6-0 200-pounds) who is batting .255 with 7 home runs and has 38 RBIs on the season. Pitt has a loaded lineup with run production up and down the order (not to mention the high number of extra base hits they have).  USF pitchers got rocked a little bit last night, giving up 7 runs and allowing 14 hits.  Derrick Stultz (today's probable starter) lasted just 1.2 innings in his last outing against WVU and will need to have a better start today if the Bulls want to stay alive in the tournament.

The Pitt pitching staff will be led by sophomore RHP Ethan Mildren (probable starter for this game) who is 6-5 on the season with a 3.27 ERA.  He has thrown 93.2 innings, allowing 101 hits, 16 walks, and 68 strike outs this season.  Freshman RHP Tanner Wilt (6-0 195-pounds) is 1-4 this year with 6 saves while working 17.2 innings, allowing 16 hits, 6 walks, and has 14 strike outs.  Freshman RHP Joe Harvey 96-2 220-pounds) is 1-0 with 3 saves in 27 innings of work where he has allowed 22 hits, 15 walks, and has struck out 28.  The Pitt pitchers have very low walk numbers, but high hit numbers and strike out totals, showing their style, attack the strike zone.  This means there will be plenty of pitchers to swing at and put in play.   The Bulls had their chances against UCONN (got plenty of runners on base) but were not able to get the man in when it mattered most.  Players like Rockhold, Brazeal, Llerena and others could be playing their last game, so they need to come out fighting and make sure the season does not end.

It's do or die for the team.  If they lose today, the season is probably over, so they will need to fight through every inning to make sure that doesn't happen.