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USF Baseball Wins The American to Hoist the 2021 Conference Championship Trophy

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Baseball

For the first time in 26 years, the University of South Florida Bulls baseball team hoisted a conference tournament championship, achieving that feat on Sunday by winning the program's first American Athletic Conference Championship with a thrilling 8-7 victory over in-state rival UCF.

Picked to finish last in the 2021 AAC preseason coaches poll, the Bulls (28-27) became not only the first No. 6 seed to win the conference tournament, but to even reach the championship game.

USF knocked off No. 3 seed Wichita State (31-23), No. 2 seed Tulane (31-24) and No. 5 seed UCF (31-30) on its journey to claim its first tournament championship since 1995 (Metro Conference).

The championship feat was hardly a Sunday walk in the park for the Bulls, who clinched a spot in the tournament finals with a 7-1 triumph over Tulane in a ballgame that ended at 12:27 a.m. on Sunday. The team didn't get back to their hotel until after 1 a.m. and returned to BayCare Ballpark less than eight hours later for a 12 p.m. championship bout.

The determined Bulls showed no signs of weariness, charging out of the gates for a pair of runs in the top of the first against UCF, and padded the lead to 6-0 in the second inning.

Daniel Cantu (Jacksonville) sparked the offense with a two-out two-run homer in the top of the first frame. The redshirt freshman went 3-for-4 with three RBI in the championship game and was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

USF batted around in a four-run second inning which saw Carmine Lane (Lake Placid), Riley Hogan (Orlando), Roberto Peña (Caracas, Venezuela) and Jake Sullivan (Tampa) each drive in runs.

Hogan, who made a pair of dazzling defensive plays in the game, tacked on an opposite field home run in the top fourth.

UCF cut its deficit to 7-3 in the fifth inning before Cantu added what proved to be the game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning – a clutch RBI-double with two outs.

The Knights answered back immediately with a four spot in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-7 affair and set up a nail-biting finish. UCF had the tying run at second base in the sixth before the inning came to an end.

The Knights also put the tying and go-ahead runs on base with one out in the eighth, and in the ninth, a two-out double placed the tying run in scoring position once again, but the Bulls refused to relinquish their lead.

Logan Lyle (Bartow) was the winning pitcher and Orion Kerkering (Venice) earned his fourth save of the season. USF's most trusted bullpen arms all season, the duo stood up to the test when it mattered most in the late innings of Sunday's championship victory.

Quotable – Head Coach Billy Mohl

  • On USF's improbable tournament run – "I felt like we really got our mojo going in those last two games of the regular season against East Carolina, and started building confidence. The fact that we were picked to finish dead last in this conference, and to see the fight our guys showed, I'm just so proud of them."
  • On the team's offensive output – "I thought we had a really good approach at the plate. It didn't matter the situation or how many outs there were, our guys just executed to perfection today."
  • On fending off UCF's rally – "It's a long tournament, and we were obviously getting thin on the mound. Our offense did its job to build that early lead which was huge. Our pitchers went out there on short rest, and collected outs. They showed a lot of guts, and our defense played really well behind them.   

Notable

  • Cantu, Hogan, Lane, Jack Jasiak (Spring Hill) and Brad Lord (Crawfordville) were each named to the All-Tournament Team.
  • Jarrett Eaton (Mobile, Ala.) led the Bulls with a .353 batting average (6-for-17) and three doubles in the tournament.
  • The Bulls have won 11 of their last 16 games, and six of their last seven – outscoring their opponents in those six wins, 42-12.
  • USF will be making its 14th NCAA Regional in program history, and fourth in the past six seasons (excluding 2020).

Up Next

The Bulls will find out their regional destination on Monday, May 31 during the NCAA selection show which will air at 12 p.m. on ESPN2.