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Baseball team struggles in its close gamesBy ROD GIPSON © St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2001 TAMPA -- Don't blame the USF baseball team if it is sick of one-run games. The Bulls had their share of them recently. And with a little less than a month remaining in the regular season and the Bulls in striking distance of the Conference USA crown, they are looking to avoid the close-game drama that has been too familiar lately. Mainly because they've come out on the wrong end of those close contests. Starting with a 2-1 loss at Saint Louis on April 13, the Bulls have had four consecutive one-run games. They lost three them to fall to 20-21 overall and 9-6 in C-USA. Different scenarios beset the Bulls during the streak: Leading 1-0 after three innings, the Bulls gave up three doubles and two runs in the fourth inning and couldn't muster any further offense in a 2-1 loss. Up 4-1 in the eighth inning a day later, USF gave up eight hits in the last three innings to lose 5-4. In the series finale, the Bulls held off the Billikens' rally to win 5-4. Bill Nahordony had a two-run homer in the top of the eighth that proved to be the difference. Wednesday night, the Bulls were on the losing end of an 18-17 game at No. 17 Central Florida. The teams combined for 41 hits, 35 runs, six errors and sent 11 pitchers to the mound. In the end, it was an Andy Johnson fly ball to rightfield that was dropped by USF's Dan Boyd in the bottom of the ninth that allowed the Knights' Wayne Summers to score from third. That leaves the Bulls in third place in C-USA, behind Houston (20-18, 11-1) and No. 11 Tulane (32-8, 10-5). Memphis (22-14, 8-7) is fourth, and Louisville (22-20, 7-8), which hosts USF beginning today, is fifth. The Cardinals are 2-4 in their past six league games entering their first meeting this season with the Bulls. "We did everything we could to win," USF coach Eddie Cardieri said. "But there were plays that happened where we just didn't execute." So with 14 games remaining, 12 against league foes, the Bulls have little room for error as they try to win their first regular-season C-USA championship since 1996 and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997. But if anything is in the Bulls' favor, it might be their schedule. Outside of games against UCF (Tuesday) and a tough season-ending series at home against Houston (May 11-13), USF plays series against Southern Miss and Charlotte, both of whom are in the lower half of the standings. The Bulls also take a break from conference play May 9 to play at Florida before the conference tournament begins May 16 in New Orleans.
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