USF news: Bulls baseball literally shows some fight and lacrosse secures its spot

In the middle of USF's baseball game Saturday at UTSA, the contest turned into basebrawl.

In Game 2 of the day and 3 of the series, the bench and bullpen cleared for the Bulls after a play at the plate involving South Florida catcher Lance Trippel and UTSA third baseman Diego Diaz.

The fracas started when Diaz collided with Trippel at home plate. According to the Paisano -- an independent student publication at UTSA -- "Trippel didn’t take too kindly to the hit and stood over Diaz, tagging him a little harder than usual after the out had already been recorded."

Caden Miller of the Roadrunners then came out to defend his teammate, and from that point it was the bugle charge for both benches to clear. After an 18-minute review, five Bulls were ejected and three UTSA players. Later, Roadrunners head coach Pat Hallmark was ejected in the sixth inning during a pitching change.

In the ninth inning, UTSA pitching coach Zach Butler was ejected after arguing a balk call that scored Trippel.

Oh, by the way, USF won the game 6-1.

"It’s a baseball play,” Miller told the Paisano Diaz’s slide. “It’s (Diaz) sliding into home pretty hard. It happens. The catcher wasn’t happy. So, I’m going to stand up for (Diaz). I’m not just going to let the South Florida players surround him while he’s on his own.

“It’s just good old-fashioned baseball. I’m backing up my teammate. They’re backing up their teammate. There’s nothing to it. It was a fun day of baseball.” 

The Bulls return to action on April 15 at Miami.

Lacrosse team routs Charlotte, clinches spot in American Conference tournament

The Bulls blew open a tight game Saturday against Charlotte, scoring 10 times in the final quarter en route to a 22-11 win at Corbett Stadium.

The Bulls improved to 4-0 in the conference and 9-4 overall. Their four losses have come against ranked teams, including three of the top seven teams in the country.

USF has two regular season games remaining, including Senior Day on April 18 at home against East Carolina. The conference tournament features the top four teams in the league and opens on April 30 in Nashville.

In the win over East Carolina, redshirt junior Sofia Chepenik had five goals, giving her a team-high 36 for the season. She also had two assists. It was the sixth time in Chepenik's career that she accounted for five or more goals in a game. Overall, 11 different players scored for the Bulls against the Pirates.

Beach volleyball aims to shake off slump

After a hot start to its inaugural season, the USF beach volleyball team has dropped its last five contets. Four of those defeats came last week at the Boise State Beach Bash.

The Bulls were beaten by Washington 4-1, 19th-ranked Boise State 5-0, 11th-ranked Grand Canyon 3-1, and FIorida International 3-2.

The losses dropped USF to 18-10 overall

The Bulls will try to regroup at the Gulf Front Invitational starting April 17 at Clearwater Beach. USF will face Florida Gulf Coast and LSU to open the event, followed by matches against Florida State and Mercer on April 18.

Softball wins a marathon game on Sunday

USF's conference-leading softball team played a game for the ages Sunday.

The Bulls topped Florida Atlantic 1-0 Sunday in a tense 14-inning trek that lasted more than four hours. It was the longest NCAA softball game in thge country this year.

USF sophomore Anne Long threw 215 pitches in the complete game shutout. Autumn Courtney, her counterpart at FAU, threw 210 pitches in going the distance.

After failing to cash in multple scoring opportunities throughout the game, USF broke through when Kathy Garcia-Soto led off the 14th with a single and stole second base. She came home when a throw to third base got through the defender.

The win gave USF a three-game sweep of the weekend series. that began with a 3-2 win on Friday.

Long was the winning pitcher in that game. It was her sixth complete game of the season. She allowed two runs on five hits.

On Saturday, USF trailed 3-1 befor scoring three times in the fifth inning to take the lead. Belle Sardia got the win while Long came on in the seventh to nail down her second save of the season.

The Bulls are now 14-4 in conference and lead second-place North Texas by one game.