TAMPA - Jeremy Brand hit two home runs and Kyle Schmidt threw six shutout innings to lead the South Florida baseball team to an 18-1 victory over Saint Louis on Saturday. The game ended after seven innings because of the mercy rule.
Schmidt (6-1), a Dunedin High graduate, earned the victory while lowering his ERA to 2.25, allowing no runs on four hits and striking out three for the Bulls (21-8, 6-2 Conference USA).
"I was really pleased with Kyle Schmidt's performance," USF coach Eddie Cardieri said. "We need Kyle to be one of our horses, and he went out there, and I thought he pitched pretty well. So hopefully, he is on the upturn."
Brand hit a three-run homer in the fourth and a two-run homer in the fifth, helping USF to an 8-0 lead. The Bulls pulled away by scoring 10 runs in the sixth.
Senior Myron Leslie, a Brandon High graduate, went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a career-high with four RBIs. Junior Devin Ivany went 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
GEORGIA 8, FLORIDA 5: A six-run fourth helped the visiting Bulldogs take an 8-0 lead. Then they held on. Ben Harrison's single in the seventh made it 8-5, and Florida (25-7, 5-3 SEC) had two on in the eighth. But Will Startup came in and got a strikeout and groundout.
UT 4, FLA. SOUTHERN 3: Joey Watts allowed one earned run on five hits and struck out five in seven innings for the host Spartans. Erick Monzon and Marshall Taylor homered for Tampa (27-10, 9-5 Sunshine State).
Softball
USF 7-8, SAINT LOUIS 0-2: The host Bulls won their 15th in a row and improved to 41-7 and 9-2 in C-USA. Tiffany Stewart's two-run double in the fifth broke a scoreless tie in Game 1. Krista Holle's two-run homer in the third broke a 2-2 tie in Game 2.
FSU 4-2, GA. TECH 0-1: The host Seminoles (40-4, 2-0 ACC) won their 27th and 28th consecutive conference games. Casey Hunter threw her seventh shutout of the season in Game 1 then pitched three innings of relief to pick up the win in Game 2.
FLORIDA 6-3, GEORGIA 4-4: A five-run sixth in Game 1 helped the host Gators earn a split. Jenny Gladding drove in two with a bases-loaded double to tie it at 3, and pinch-hitter Michelle Diaz's single gave Florida (33-8, 10-4) the lead. Georgia got consecutive homers from Kim Wendland and Courtney Knight in Game 2.
SAINT LEO 7-4, FLA. TECH 4-3: The host Lions (30-15, 5-7) increased their win streak to 12 with four runs in the fourth in both games.
FLORIDA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP: USF slipped into a tie for second with Miami, six shots behind Rollins, after a second-round 312 in Miami Lakes. Freshman Daniella Ronderos is tied for third at 151, one shot behind two players, for USF, which led after the first round. Florida State is fourth among the 20 teams, which don't include Florida.
Gymnastics
Penn State edged Oklahoma and Illinois for its 11th men's title in Champaign, Ill. The Nittnay Lions finished with 223.350 points, Oklahoma had 222.300 and Illinois 222.225.
Oklahoma failed to become the first school to win three consecutive titles since Nebraska won five in a row from 1979-83. The Sooners went into the final rotation with a 0.175 lead. But they finished on the parallel bars while Penn State was on vault, a higher-scoring event.
Track
USF INVITATIONAL: UCF's Katie Fowke, a Riverview grad, set a school record in the pole vault, clearing 12 feet. She finished third.
TEXAS RELAYS: Florida junior Josh Walker ran the fastest collegiate time in the nation in the 110-meter hurdles, winning in a wind-aided time of 13.47 seconds in Austin. The 4x400 team of Sekou Clarke, Reggie Witherspoon, Stefan Pastor and Kerron Clement ran the second-fastest time in school history, finishing second in 3:01.49, .43 seconds behind Baylor.
Tennis
FIU 5, USF 2: The host Bulls women lost their third in a row. Their only doubles win came at No. 1 from Marie Andrade and Fabiana Taverna. Taverna and Andrade won singles matches.
