Jacksonville scoring surge sinks Bulls

There weren’t many bright spots for USF in Jacksonville on Wednesday night.

Junior pitcher Teddy Kaufman didn’t get out of the second inning after giving up six runs on five hits, the Bulls committed three errors, and Jacksonville erased an early 5-0 deficit, snapping USF’s five-game win streak.

“Everything we did right last weekend we didn’t do (Wednesday),” said USF coach Lelo Prado. “We didn’t play with the same intensity and that’s why we lost.”

The Bulls (19-11, 7-2) were looking for a sixth straight win after taking a five-run lead on the Dolphins in the top of the first, highlighted by Trey Manz’s two-run single.

Jacksonville put up five runs of its own in the bottom of the first.  Thomas Myers connected for a three-run home run off Kaufman, followed by a solo blast off the bat of Alex Martinez.

Neither starter got out of the second inning.

“When you get five runs early, you have to capitalize,” said pitching coach Lazer Collazo.  “We did not do that.”

The Dolphins added another run in the second, two in the third and two in the fourth, when Jacksonville’s Chris Connelly connected for a two-run home run.

Sloppy defense plagued the Bulls, including center fielder Ryan Lockwood and right fielder Mike Consolmagno, who each dropped what appeared to be routine fly balls.

“We’ve got to learn to catch fly balls in a hurry,” Prado said.

Down 11-5 in the eighth, Manz hit a three-run home run — his third in seven at-bats — over the scoreboard to cut into the deficit

Lockwood’s sixth-inning walk extended his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 73.

Another USF-Jacksonville game was scheduled for today but was cancelled because of travel obligations.