Bulls shut out of Big East tourney
Unable to find the bats to match their solid pitching, USF's run at the Big East championships ended Friday with a pair of shutouts against Connecticut, the lowest-seeded team in the tournament field.
USF came in needing one win in two chances against the Huskies to advance to Saturday's championship, but Connecticut scored three runs in the eighth inning of the first game, a 3-0 win. In the second game, USF's Yuri Higgins, making just his fifth start of the season, took a shutout into the seventh, but Connecticut struck for two runs there. That's all they needed in a 2-0 win, as USF was held to four hits, the third time in four games the Bulls had four or less.
In four games in Brooklyn, USF scored just four runs, and Friday's losses hurt the Bulls' chances of landing an at-large berth to the tournament. The Big East isn't likely to get more than three bids, and Louisville, Rutgers and St. John's have better overall records, though USF has a comparable RPI rating.
Connecticut will face second-seeded Rutgers in Saturday's championship game, broadcast at 1 p.m. on ESPNU.
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
Good work Greg. Go to sleep. Spend some time with your wife and save your energy for real footbal season.
Posted by: | May 26, 2007 at 12:06 AM
Truth is, we don't deserve to go to the dance. Maybe our starting pitching, but everyone else needs bp.
Posted by: JoeB | May 26, 2007 at 12:19 AM
The glass is half full for sure. CLP has Bulls fans and alumni excited about the future and team had a better than expected showing the BE tourney.
Tough way to go out, yes. The future is bright.
Go Bulls!
Posted by: BA | May 26, 2007 at 07:26 AM
great season, losing otero next year is going to be tough though, still prado and martinez brought some hope for the bulls faithful
Posted by: usfmike | May 27, 2007 at 03:08 PM
The annoying thing is a good baseball team losing to a lesser opponent consecutively after maintaining the extra game cushion against two superior teams. Hopefully, Prado bit them hard for allowing the hasty exit.
I hope they get an invitation to the NCAA baseball tournament, I sincerely want them to win every game they play.
GO BULLS!
Posted by: BullBard | May 28, 2007 at 09:04 PM