The South Florida baseball team (25-22,10-11) which has lost three of its last four games, will stand against the formidable St John's Red Storm (37-10, 16-5) in New York tonight at 6 P.M as it tries to secure a postseason berth.
The Bulls are currently seventh in the conference, one game ahead of eighth place Villanova (9-12) and ninth place Rutgers (9-12). Only eight teams make it to Clearwater for the Big East Tournament.
The good news for USF is that Villanova and Rutgers will beat each other up this weekend in a three game series, with the ideal scenario for the Bulls being that Rutgers takes two of three from the Wildcats. Furthermore, the Bulls have won five of their last six conference games and also hold the tiebreakers over Villanova and Rutgers, so a 13-14 conference record should be enough to clinch a playoff spot.
Now, the bad news. The Bulls will be playing their last six conference games against St John's and Notre Dame, the top two teams in the Big East. The Red Storm have won 10 of their last 11 games and will want to finish the regular season with momentum on their side.
USF has not able to hold leads in critical games due to its young bullpen, which features five freshmen, but that is a luxury the Bulls cannot afford to take if they want to beat quality teams this late in the season.
It is going to be up to redshirt freshman Ryan Lockwood, who is on a 28-game hitting streak, to get on base consistently, and both junior shortstop Addison Maruszak and senior starting pitcher Daniel Thomas (who starts tonight) will have to provide leadership and a calm demeanor to the younger Bulls if things begin to look bleak for USF on the road.
- Martin Bater
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