For several years now, most sports talk in Tampa around the University of South Florida started and ended with Ken Ericksen’s softball team. Bulls’ softball has earned NCAA post-season berths in 4 of the last 5 seasons, along with a trip to the Women’s College World Series in 2012. However, this year it appears the USF Baseball Bulls are charging!
After a long drought, Bulls’ baseball is back in the conversation.
In all honesty, they may be headed to the NCAA Regional for just the 2nd time in the last 14 seasons. The talk really got rolling this week, when the Bulls beat the 5th-ranked Florida Gators, in Gainesville. It was the first time in what seems like forever, that the Bulls had beaten both the Gators and the Seminoles in the same season. And it WAS the first time in school history, they had beaten both state powerhouses, on the road, in the same season.
“We're getting better on the mound, we're getting better offensively,” USF’s third-year head coach Mark Kingston told GoUSFBulls.com. “And we're really turning into the team we thought we could be.”
Photos courtesy of USF Baseball Facebook Photos
As it should be, with so many excellent prep baseball programs in the Tampa Bay area, the Bulls are loaded with Sunshine State players. Thirteen are from the greater Bay Area, 32 from the state of Florida. Florida kids know how to play ball.
“I think we're to the point now where we feel like we can play with anybody,” Kingston said. “If we play our best baseball, we can beat anybody.”
The Bulls are ranked #23 in the nation this week, with one more weekend of regular season baseball to go... then the conference tournament in Clearwater… then maybe even hosting a NCAA Regional. “I think it's great,” Kingston said. “I think it shows our program is starting to get national respect and all the hard work our coaches and players have put in, people are starting to notice.”
