FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
(Photo Courtesy of South Florida Media Relations)
TAMPA, Fla. – The University of South Florida baseball team wrapped up its Fall Ball World Series Sunday night with the Grey team winning Game Three by a score of 8-5.
Freshman shortstop Sam Mende lifted the Grey team to the win going 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI.
After closer Andrew Salgueiro finished off the Green team in the ninth, he was mobbed on the mound by his teammates.
“I felt that the first game was the most well-played game by far,” said Grey team coach Charles Cleveland. “I felt there were a lot of mental errors and physical errors in the last two games. We got a little lucky. I don’t know how we would have done playing a team at their peak, but it went all right.”
The lineup for the Grey team tonight was as follows: Mike Consolmagno, RF; Junior Carlin, CF; Jonathan Koscso, 3B; Todd Brazeal, 1B; Trey Manz, C; Sam Mende, SS; Shawn Sanford, DH; Ian MacGeorge, LF; Jordan McGillis, 2B; Teddy Kaufman, P. The relievers in order of appearance were: Doug Wagner, Shawn Sanford and Andrew Salgueiro.
“It would have been nice if we could have squeaked this one out and had the chance to play Game Three in the 10th inning. That would have been fun to see,” said Green team coach Bryant Ward. “I thought some guys stepped up and performed well, that maybe hadn’t done so earlier in the fall.”
The Green team’s lineup on Sunday, by batting order, was as follows: Peter Brotons, 2B; Andrew Robinson, SS; Chris Rey, CF; Stephen Hunt, RF; Sean Buckley, 1B; Daniel Rockhold, 3B; Andrew Longley, C; Ryan Garcia, DH; Zach Rios, LF; Kyle Parker, P. Relievers included Kevin Quackenbush and Zach Pietrzyk.
The top of the Grey team’s lineup, Consolmagno and Carlin, once again did their job by setting the table for the rest of the order, each picking up two hits and walking once.
The Grey team jumped out to an early lead, collecting two runs in the top of the first inning, and two more in the third. They scored in all but three innings to earn the win, and preventing the Green team’s hope of completing Game One.
“I’m glad that we took care of business here because if we had to go back into the extra inning game, we would have been a little short on arms and we would have been starting at the bottom of our order,” said Cleveland.
The series started on Thursday and was tied 4-4 heading into the 10th, when the practice had to be postponed due to time constraints, and coaches decided to continue the game, if necessary, Sunday night.
The World Series concluded fall practices for the Bulls. USF opens the 2009 regular season in the Big Ten Challenge against Michigan, Feb. 20, at Jack Russell Field in Clearwater, Fla.
