USF baseball’s unlikely AAC tournament run ends with pair of losses

The USF baseball team’s quest for a second improbable NCAA regional berth in three seasons ended Saturday with consecutive losses to top-seeded East Carolina in the American Athletic Conference tournament at Clearwater’s BayCare Ballpark.

The lowest seed entering the eight-team event, USF (21-39) won its first two tournament games — including an 11-inning, 12-11 triumph against East Carolina in Tuesday’s opener — before the Pirates emerged from the losers’ bracket to exact 18 innings of revenge Saturday.

In Saturday morning’s opener, Pirates senior right-hander Garrett Saylor surrendered only two hits over eight innings in a 3-1 triumph, forcing a rematch in the afternoon’s elimination round. In that game, the Bulls scored seven runs in the first three innings but couldn’t hold off the Pirates, who collected 17 hits in a 14-7 triumph.

Sophomore Jackson Mayo had a solo home run in Saturday’s first game for the Bulls, who have a .441 win percentage in their last three regular seasons but are 6-5 in AAC tourney games (with one title) in that same span.

Catcher Ben Rozenblum — one of three Bulls with two hits — and third baseman Travis Sankovich each homered for USF in the second game.

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