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Pitchers search for more consistency

TAMPA -- The South Florida baseball team has won just four of its first 10 games. Depending on the day, the pitching staff could be an easy target for criticism or lauded as the strength of the team. The staff coach Eddie Cardieri has put together has talent. His pitchers possess a wide range of pitches and have solid defense and hitting backing them up.

So why the poor start?

The Bulls have a staff ERA of 3.80, but are coming off a game in which they gave up 14 runs (and that was a win against Bethune-Cookman). USF pitchers are the best staff in Conference USA when it comes to striking out batters looking (28), but they are among the worst in giving up home runs (nine). The Bulls have thrown three wild pitches, but have committed four balks. They have hit one batter, but have five intentional walks.

Sophomore right-hander Jon Uhl, and senior right-handers John Gorham and Jason Bartz have been the workhorses, along with junior left-hander and Stanford transfer Ryan Gloger and senior left-hander Keith Strickland.

In beating Texas-Arlington 6-4 at last week's Coca-Cola Classic in Houston, Uhl allowed five hits and struck out nine in six innings. Strickland pitched the final 11/3 innings, giving up one hit and earning his first victory since 1999. He picked up his second win days later in the 26-14 win against Bethune-Cookman.

"Uhl was tremendous -- five hits and nine strikeouts in six innings," Cardieri said. "And (Strickland) was real good today. He gave us what we needed, which was a great effort out of the bullpen and a chance to win the ballgame. We needed a reliever to come in and shut them down and he did it."

The Bulls followed those victories with losses to Rice and Louisiana-Lafayette. The Owls, ranked No. 6 by Baseball America and Louisiana-Lafayette, ranked 22nd, each beat the Bulls 6-2.

USF returned from the Coca-Cola Classic on Tuesday to earn its win at home against B-CC.

But even in the losses on the road there were positives.

In the Rice loss, reliever David Austen retired all six batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings. In the following loss to Louisiana-Lafayette, starter Jason Bartz struck out four in 62/3 innings. He did allow six runs, although two were unearned.

But even Cardieri couldn't find many positives in USF's pitching performance against B-CC. The Bulls used seven pitchers and promptly set a school record with 18 walks. Gloger made the start but left before the third inning, eventually giving way to Strickland, who earned the win.

The Bulls will get plenty of chances to improve on that performance with 12 games in the next three weeks, nine of those coming at home. Key matchups include a three-game series at Miami, the defending national champions.

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