The USF baseball team showed resiliency in its opening weekend series against Illinois, coming from behind twice to win games and take the three-game series.
The Bulls spotted the Illini a three-run lead in the opener on Friday at Red McEwen Field and still trailed by a run in the bottom of the fifth before taking charge and cruising to a 9-4 victory.
On Sunday, the comeback was even more pronounced.
Illinois led by five runs in the fourth inning before the Bulls' bats came alive. They scored four times in the sixth and three more in the eighth and held on for an 11-10 win.
Bradke Lohry had a home run and three RBI for USF. Nathan Earley also had three RBI.
The only loss of the weekend came in the middle game of the series when the visitors took a 4-2 win in 10 innings.
The Bulls will be at home for five games this week. They play North Dakota State on Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting Georgia Southern in a three-game series starting Friday.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER FOR SOFTBALL
The Bulls won four out of five games in the Fonseca Memorial Tournament at the USF softball stadium. The last two wins were walkoff victories over Boston College and DePaul to improve USF's record to 8-4.
The Bulls have won six of seven games since losing to 6th-ranked Florida on February 8. Three of those wins were shutouts.
USF's tournament run began with a 4-2 win over Indiana State, sparked by a three-hit performance by Karhys Pierce.
The Bulls played a pair of games on Friday -- falling to Kansas 7-2 before shutting out Yale 5-0. Alex Wilkes had two home runs -- one in each game -- and Kathy Garcia-Soto was a combined 3-for-8 at the plate.
McKenna Schroding improved to 2-0 with a complete game shutout of the Bulldogs.
USF stunned Boston College with a four-run seventh-inning rally to win 5-4. Pierce had a huge at-bat with a two-run ground rule double to tie the game, and Alexa Galligani won it with an infield grounder that scored Toryn Fulton from third.
On Sunday, USF wrapped up the tournament with a 2-1 win over DePaul in eight innings.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HAS A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY
USF faces American Conference leader Rice on Tuesday night in Houston. The Owls are 22-3 overall and 12-0 in the conference. USF sits in third place at 16-10 overall and 9-4 in league play.
Even if the Bulls win, chasing down Rice for the regular-season conference title is a long shot. But it would keep USF on the heels of second-place East Carolina (19-7, 11-2). The top two teams in the regular season get byes to the semifinals in the conference tournament.
USF suffered two-point losses each to Rice and East Carolina. The Bulls don't play East Carolina again this season. They also have a one-point loss to Florida Atlantic.
USF has won three straight, including a 69-63 win at UTSA on Saturday, and four of its last five.
BULLS LACROSSE FALLS TO MICHIGAN
USF fell to 1-1 as a powerful Michigan team took charge in the second half to deal the Bulls a 16-10 setback at Corbett Stadium.
The Bulls led 8-5 at the half but saw the Wolverines outscore them 11-2 in the final two quarters to take the win.
Sofia Chepenik had six goals for USF, while Ava Uphues had two. Elise Grissett and Maggie Newton had one apiece.
Chepenik has eight goals in the Bulls' two games this season.
USF has its first road game on Wednesday afternoon at Stetson.
WES ENIS NAMED AMERICAN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Coming off a 27-point performance in Sunday's 83-81 overtime win at Florida Atlantic, Bulls guard Wes Enis was named the American Conference men''s basketball Player of the Week.
In a 66-58 victory at Wichita State, Enis had the first double-double of his career, finishing with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Against FAU, he had five 3-pointers and was 10-of-17 from the field.
On the two-game road trip he hit 55.6 percent from beyond the arc.