USF Drops AAC Tournament Opener Facing Elimination Against Wichita State
They now face elimination against Wichita State on Wednesday.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — The University of South Florida Bulls dropped their opening game of the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament on Tuesday night, falling to East Carolina 9–4. The Bulls are now one loss away from the end of their season.
“The big message is, thank goodness this isn’t your final game,” Head Coach Mitch Hannahs told his team in the locker room and to the press in the post-game conference.
The Bulls fell behind early and never recovered. USF trailed 7–0 before a single batter reached base.
“I just felt like right after we took that punch, we were trying to do too much,” Hannahs said.
The trouble started on the first pitch of the game when East Carolina University’s freshman second baseman Braden Burress singled to center field off USF junior starting pitcher Corey Braun. Burress, continuing his standout freshman season, went 4-for-6 with a home run and two RBIs, raising his season batting average to .403.
“If we didn’t have that guy, our record would be a lot worse than it is right now,” ECU’S Baseball Head Coach Cliff Godwin said.
On the other hand, First Team All-AAC pitcher Braun did not continue his stellar season Tuesday. He pitched three innings and allowed five earned runs — only the third time this season he has surrendered five or more in a game. Braun, who entered the game striking out 24.9% of batters faced, struck out just one of the 20 he faced against the Pirates.
“He wasn’t as sharp as he normally is,” Hannahs said. “He left some balls up, even in positive counts for him.”
Offensively, the Bulls struggled to get going.
ECU’s sophomore pitcher Ethan Norby, who did not pitch over the weekend in Tampa due to illness, looked well-rested. He struck out the first six USF batters he faced and finished with 4.1 innings pitched and three earned runs allowed.
USF’s best offensive frame came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Senior left fielder Jackson Mayo got the Bulls on the board with a two-run double, cutting ECU’s lead to 8–2. With the bases loaded and one out, junior center fielder Ryan Pruitt hit a deep fly to right that was caught by junior right fielder Jack Herring, crashing into the wall. The sacrifice fly made it 8–3.
“I thought the wind died down just enough, or Pruitt might have made it 8-6 in the 5th inning,” said Coach Hannahs.
Junior pitcher Ethan Young closed the inning for ECU, striking out Lance Trippel to limit the damage.
A bright spot for the Bulls was sophomore second baseman Carlos Jacome, who went 3-for-5 with a double. Jacome’s .331 average is now tied with junior third baseman Matt Rose for the team lead.
With the loss, USF is now in win-or-go-home territory in the double-elimination tournament. The Bulls return to action Wednesday against Wichita State, which lost to Charlotte 7–1 in its tournament opener.
The two teams met in late April during the regular season, with USF winning the series in Wichita by taking games one and three.
First pitch is scheduled for approximately 4:30 p.m. at BayCare Ballpark, 47 minutes after the conclusion of the day’s first game between Florida Atlantic and Rice, which starts at 1 p.m. The game will be aired on ESPN+.