Preview: Stetson at USF

The USF baseball team heads back to the diamond on Tuesday night when they host Stetson in a mid-week contest. First pitch is slated for 7:00 PM at the USF Baseball Stadium.

The Bulls are coming off a series loss to Georgetown last week, losing two-of-three in Washington D.C. USF was bitten by the extra innings bug on Thursday night, falling 1-0 in 13 innings to the Hoyas. The Bulls were unable to back a strong performance from Jimmy Herget on Thursday; the freshman allowed just three hits over eight scoreless innings. Fans saw some free baseball again on Friday, USF took a 10-6 victory over Georgetown in 10 innings. Junior lefthander Nick Gonzalez continued his recent success, turning in another quality start and allowing three earned runs over 7.2 innings. The only lopsided game of the series went to the Hoyas, a 7-2 final on Saturday. Georgetown jumped all over USF starter Joey Lovecchio, touching him up for six runs over 3.2 innings. The Georgetown series is the first series loss of the season in conference play for USF. After two weeks of Big East play, USF sits a game back of first place Rutgers in the conference standings.

Like the Bulls, the Hatters are looking to bounce back after a series loss. Stetson lost two-of-three to Kennesaw State over the weekend in DeLand. The three game set was dominated by good pitching with three shutouts thrown in the series. In the two losses, Stetson was outscored 8-0 and managed 11 hits. The Hatters struggled to drive runners in, leaving 18 men on base in the series. After the series with Kennesaw State, Stetson finds itself at 2-4 and in the basement of the Atlantic Sun standings, tied for eighth place.

The Pitching Matchup

USF: Mike Clarkson (1-4, 4.18 ERA)

VS.

Stetson: Adam Schlay (0-1, 4.74 ERA) or TBA

On Tuesday night the Bulls will send sophomore righty Mike Clarkson to the mound. Clarkson is coming off a tough outing against No. 26 Florida Gulf Coast where he allowed four earned runs and walked five over 4.1 innings pitched. The outing was easily the rockiest of Clarkson's sophomore season. Previous to the FGCU outing, Clarkson had been one of USF's most consistent starters all season. The Bulls will look to Clarkson to bounce back against a Stetson offense that is batting just .251 as a team.

Stetson has yet to announce the starter for Tuesday night's tilt against USF. According to the schedule, freshman righty Adam Schaly has taken to ball for a majority of the mid-week games for the Hatters this season. The other possibility to pitch would be Kevin Fagan but he started for the Hatters on Sunday. Schlay is coming off a successful start against Florida A&M on March 26th in DeLand. The freshman allowed three earned runs on seven hits in four innings pitched.