Colleges

Loss sends USF coach into hazy offseason

St. John's 6-4 win sends the Bulls home after their second-worst season under Eddie Cardieri.

By GREG AUMAN
Published May 25, 2006

[Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes]

Yuri Higgins delivers during a sharp relief performance for the Bulls. He pitched six and two-thirds scoreless, two-hit innings to give USF a shot at a rally that never came.

CLEARWATER - Even as his Bulls finished the second-worst season in his 21 years by going two-and-out in the Big East tournament, USF coach Eddie Cardieri was lifted by his team's play in the past week.

"The last five games, these guys came together and played hard," Cardieri said after the eighth-seeded Bulls lost 6-4 to fourth-seeded St. John's at Bright House Networks Field.

Whether Wednesday's loss marks the end of his tenure with the Bulls is ultimately up to USF athletic director Doug Woolard, who declined comment until he meets with Cardieri next week. The 51-year-old coach has finished the final year of his current contract.

"I guess I wait until Doug says, "Let's get together,' " said Cardieri, whose team won two of three at West Virginia last weekend to earn the final spot in the league tournament. "Right now, I want some days. I want to go to the beach. I'd go out in my boat, but my boat's broken."

As has often been the case in a long, frustrating season for Cardieri, the Bulls (23-35) can point to a single bad inning, and a single defensive mistake, as the difference. St. John's scored all six in the second, giving Bulls starter Davis Bilardello (1-8) an early exit.

"If we did a couple of little things, it would have been a two-run inning," Cardieri said. "It was a big inning that became too big of an inning."

Trailing 2-0, the Red Storm opened the second with two singles, then Gil Zayas bunted down the third-base line. Bilardello field but looked to third, which was uncovered, making it an infield single. After a sacrifice fly, St. John's got a run-scoring single from Jarod Hickle, then a two-out run-scoring double from Bryan Dirr for a 3-2 lead.

The inning looked to end when Sam Deluca hit a ground ball to third baseman Dexter Butler, but his throw to first went wide, allowing two to score. Yuri Higgins relieved Bilardello and gave up a run-scoring single for a third unearned run and a 6-2 St. John's lead.

Higgins kept USF in the game, pitching 62/3 innings of scoreless, two-hit relief. The Bulls, who had four hits in the first, had more than one in an inning only once the rest of the way. Butler and Ty Taborelli doubled to lead off the fifth, cutting the lead to 6-3, but Taborelli was doubled off second when Addison Maruszak hit a line drive to shortstop.

Joey Angelberger hit his sixth home run in the seventh, and the Bulls had a chance in the ninth when Jim Cassidy singled with two outs. Given a chance to redeem his throwing error, Butler grounded out to short, ending the Bulls' season.

"If we executed the little things, it's a totally different ballgame," said senior catcher Brian Baisley, who had a run-scoring single in the first. "We could be sitting here 2-0. The bottom line is we didn't execute the small things."

The seventh-seeded Scarlet Knights had 12 runs in the first three innings, chasing Bearcats starter Steve Blevins in the fourth after 12 hits on the way to eliminating the sixth-seeded Bearcats.

Todd Frazier, David Williams and Frank Meade homered for Rutgers (28-27), which advances to play Connecticut today at 4 p.m. Second baseman Mike Bionde went 3-for-4 with four RBIs for Rutgers, and DH Jack Nelson paced Cincinnati (32-26) with three RBIs.

Rutgers starter Sean Spicer (7-4) got the win despite giving up 14 hits.

Junior outfielder Daniel Burton had four hits, including a double and a home run, plus three RBIs and two runs, and the Cardinals posted a season-high 18 hits and held off a four-run, ninth-inning rally.

The third-seeded Cardinals (30-28), who have 21 runs and 34 hits in two tournament games, won their league-best 11th straight to advance to play the winner of today's Rutgers-Connecticut game, an elimination game for the second-seeded Huskies (39-17-1).

Starter B.J. Rosenberg earned the win, allowing five earned runs on 12 hits and two walks in 51/3 innings.

Jeremy Barnes drove in three and Jeff Samardzija pitched eight effective innings, leading the top-seeded Fighting Irish in the winners bracket.

Barnes had a run-scoring single in the first and a two-run single in the second as Notre Dame (43-14-1) went up 6-2 after two. He had two RBIs in a 3-1 victory over USF on Tuesday.

Samardzija allowed four runs and nine hits. Two scored on the right-hander's errant throw to the plate in the sixth that cut Notre Dame's lead to 6-4.

Rutgers vs. Connecticut, 4 p.m.

St. John's vs. West Virginia, 7 p.m.

[Last modified May 25, 2006, 00:55:15]