After sweeping the Tulane Green Wave, LHP Corey Braun and OF Marcus Brodil have swept the American Athletic Conference Pitcher and Player of the Week honors, the league office announced on Monday. It’s the pair’s first AAC Player and Pitcher of the Week honor.
The Bulls stretched their win streak to five games after a historical sweep over the Tulane Green Wave in Tampa this past weekend. South Florida swept Tulane for the first time since 1993 and the first time in Tampa. The Bulls are now 5-1 in conference play, the best conference start since 2015.
Braun led the Bulls to a 3-0 shutout win over Tulane on Friday night. The Seminole native pitched the first complete game of his career. Through nine innings, he held the Green Wave to two hits. He struck out six batters and only allowed one walk. Braun became the first South Florida pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete-game shutout since Collin Sullivan did so against Wichita State on May 17, 2019.
Brodil led the Bull’s bats with a .600 average, two doubles, and eight total bases. On Sunday, the Dunedin native set a career-high of four RBI while going 3-for-3 and scoring three runs. Brodil posted a perfect fielding percentage.
Braun, Brodil, and the Bulls will welcome the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats for a midweek matchup on Tuesday, April 1. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
Series History: The Bulls and Wildcats will meet for the 86th time on Tuesday. South Florida leads the all-time series 68-17. The Bulls lead the series in Tampa, 42-9, and are on a nine-game winning streak.
Note-A-Bull:
Marcus Brodil has recorded a team-leading 11th multi-hit game of the season with two this past weekend.
Carlos Jacome recorded his fifth multi-hit performance of the season and his third three-hit performance on Sunday. He has recorded a home run in both conference series.
Lance Trippel is currently on a team-leading five-game hitting streak. He hit his third home run on Saturday and posted a season-high three RBI.
RHP Matt Goldenbaum earned his first career win on Sunday. The redshirt freshman pitched three innings, holding the Green Wave to one hit.
RHP Bryce Archie earned his third win of the season on Saturday. In four innings, he struck out three batters.
Hannahs at the Helm: Mitch Hannahs was named South Florida’s eighth head coach in program history on June 8, 2024, after compiling 355 wins over 11 seasons at Indiana State. The 2023 ABCA NCAA DI Midwest Region Coach of the Year guided the Sycamores to six conference titles and five NCAA Regionals, guiding ISU to a spot in the 2023 NCAA Super Regional. He takes over a USF team that went 26-29 last year and features 24 new players.
60th Year of USF Baseball: The South Florida Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and will enter its 60th campaign in 2025. The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. USF has won 11 conference titles – five tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro, and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro, and 1 C-USA). Bulls baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, and 19 Bulls have earned Freshman All-America accolades.
Tickets: Tickets to watch Bulls baseball at the USF Baseball Stadium may be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls or clicking HERE.
Follow us: To stay up-to-date on the latest USF Baseball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
About USF Baseball The South Florida Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and will enter its 60th campaign in 2025. Mitch Hannahs was named South Florida’s eighth head coach in program history on June 8, 2024, after compiling 355 wins over 11 seasons at Indiana State. The 2023 ABCA NCAA DI Midwest Region Coach of the Year guided the Sycamores to six conference titles and five NCAA Regionals. The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. The Bulls have won five conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro, and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro, and 1 C-USA). USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, and 19 Bulls have earned Freshman All-America accolades. USF has had 131 MLB Draft Picks. Former 2018 first-round draft pick Shane McClanahan is a two-time MLB All-Star. – #GoBulls –
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Three of four teams in the women’s Final Four are No. 1 seeds. None of the four have lost more than three games this season. All but one have been the top-ranked team in the country at some point.
That’s how strong the national semifinals are this year, with powerhouses UCLA, Texas, South Carolina and UConn competing in Tampa, Florida, for a national championship.
“Whoever gets through this semifinal and final will have done it against the best of the best,” said Texas coach Vic Schaefer, who has led his second school to the Final Four after getting Mississippi State there in 2017 and 2018. “So I think for all of us, we all understand it. It’s hard to do.
UCLA, South Carolina and Texas are No. 1 seeds. UConn is a No. 2 seed but has certainly looked the part of a top-seeded team behind Paige Bueckers — perhaps the biggest star in the tournament who’s the primary reason the Huskies are the betting favorite to win it all.
Texas (35-3) and South Carolina (34-3) are scheduled to face each other for the fourth time this season in the first of two semifinals on Friday. UConn (35-3) will play UCLA (34-2) in the other.
The championship game is on Sunday.
Here are a few things to know as the Final Four begins.
UConn guard Paige Bueckers, left, places confetti onto head coach Geno Auriemma, front right, after the team’s win over Southern California in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, March 31, 2025, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
Bueckers’ last shot at a national championship
Bueckers is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s WNBA draft. First, she gets one more shot at the national championship that has eluded her during her career.
Bueckers earned AP All-America honors this season and was the Big East player of the year for the third time. She has UConn back in the Final Four for the second straight year after the Huskies were beaten by Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the semis last year.
She has averaged 35 points in her last three March Madness games, including career highs of 40 points and six 3-pointers in the Huskies’ 82-59 rout of Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.
“I think last year I got so caught up in the pressures and the stakes of it all,” Bueckers said, “and trying to be perfect and worrying about the wrong things … It’s the last year regardless of what happens. So I’m just enjoying this last weekend.”
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley talks to guard Te-Hina Paopao (0) during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Gamecocks trying to be first repeat champs since UConn
Dawn Staley has her team in its fifth straight Final Four, and defending champion South Carolina is trying to become the first repeat national champion since the Huskies won four straight from 2013 to 2016. That Huskies four-peat was coach Geno Auriemma’s last title, though he has the Huskies in the Final Four for a record 24th time.
The Gamecocks, who went undefeated last season en route to the program’s third title, beat Texas twice this season but have been on the ropes a bit during the tournament.
The Gamecocks went back and forth with Maryland in the Sweet 16 before finally doing enough in the final few minutes to put it away. They beat Duke by four points in the Elite Eight despite their offense being mostly stymied.
“I think we experienced a lot of things we didn’t experience last year,” said senior guard Te-Hina Paopao. “Every time we lost or did something, we learned from that opportunity and have grown from that opportunity.”
LSU guard Last-Tear Poa (13), forward Sa’Myah Smith (5) and UCLA center Lauren Betts (51) go after a rebound during the second half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
Star center Lauren Betts has UCLA in its first Final Four
UCLA won a national title in 1978 in the pre-NCAA era of women’s basketball but made its first Final Four in three tries.
Lauren Betts has been one of the most impactful players of the tournament, leading the Bruins to the semis with 21.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 75% from the field.
The 6-foot- 7 center had 17 points, seven rebounds and six blocks against LSU in the Elite Eight despite sitting the entire second quarter in foul trouble.
The junior’s teammates have praised her growth this season.
“I think it’s just me finally realizing the player I am,” Betts said. “I think a lot of it has to do with not just the basketball side but the mental work that I’ve done this past season. … Also I have to give a lot of credit to this program and the amount of confidence that they’ve given me.”
Ottawa Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson, centre-right, celebrates his goal with teammates during second period NHL hockey action against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Ottawa, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Linus Ullmark made 31 saves, Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson scored and the Ottawa Senators beat Tampa Bay 2-1 on Thursday night, with the Lightning wrapping up a playoff spot after the game when Colorado beat Columbus.
Pinto opened the scoring for the Senators with 6:15 left in the first period, and Sanderson made it 2-0 on a power play at 5:17 of the second. Brandon Hagel got one back for Tampa Bay at seven minutes of the second with his 34th of the season.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 17 shots for Tampa Bay, playing the second game of a four-game trip. The Lightning had won four in a row.
Ottawa holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Takeaways
Lightning: Tampa Bay generated a number of chances on the power play, but was unable to capitalize.
Senators: Ottawa struggled defensively at times and relied heavily on Ullmark.
Key moment
With Ottawa up 2-1, Ullmark made a huge save on Jake Guentzel with 23 seconds remaining in the second period.
Up next
The Lightning are at Buffalo on Saturday night. The Senators host Florida on Saturday and Columbus on Sunday night.
Las Vegas and Seattle seem to be the leading expansion candidates.
Here is a question. Does the proposed sale of the National Basketball Association’s Boston Celtics franchise for a reported $6.1 billion open the door for an NBA expansion? That is a question that has not yet been answered but it appears the NBA brass was waiting for the Celtics business sale to see how much someone was willing to pay for the franchise. The NBA now knows the price for the Boston market. More than six billion dollars. Could the NBA get that price for an expansion team or teams? It depends on just how much a potential NBA owner in Seattle or Las Vegas is willing to pay for an expansion franchise.
The NBA expansion process really has not started although the league brass is absolutely familiar with the two leading expansion candidates, Seattle and Las Vegas. The NBA has an interest in Mexico City as well but geopolitics may get in the way of a United States sports league putting a franchise in Mexico. The NBA wanted to accomplish two things before it was ready to add franchises. The NBA owners wanted a collective bargaining agreement with the players. That deal was reached in 2023. The NBA then wanted to finalize a new American TV deal and that happened in 2024. The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been somewhat vague about expanding the league to 32 teams. Another fly in the expansion ointment is this. The NBA could establish a permanent presence in Europe starting its own European league. There could be a new venue built in Las Vegas for an NBA franchise. Seattle politicians really did not want to spend money for a new venue for the NBA SuperSonics in 2006 and 2007. Seattle now has a venue. The SuperSonics ownership took the business to Oklahoma City in 2008. NBA expansion may be closer.
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