Notebook: USF baseball against No. 5 Florida State preview

Junior Alec Wisely will get his chance to pitch against the Seminoles for the first time today.
ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

After a blowout loss (12-5), a close loss (9-8) and a close win (4-3) in a three-game series against No. 6 North Carolina to start the season, USF baseball will travel to face No. 5 Florida State today at 4 p.m.

Last season, USF traveled to No. 3 FSU for its fourth game of the season and defeated the Seminoles 4-2, with six different pitchers working at least one inning. Today, the Bulls are starting junior pitcher Alec Wisely, who has given up three runs in 1.1 innings this season. 

Wisely, a junior college transfer, didn’t pitch against the Seminoles last year.

FSU opened its season with a three-game sweep of Xavier, outscoring the Musketeers a combined 23-4 and will be starting redshirt junior pitcher Andrew Karp (1-0).

Last season against USF, Karp shut down the Bulls, allowing no runs and three hits in seven innings. It was after he exited the game that USF put up four runs on four different Seminole pitchers in the final two innings. 

USF women’s basketball moves up to No. 18 

In the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday, USF (22-5, 11-2) moved up four spots to No. 18 after it defeated UCF (17-9, 9-4) in overtime 77-68 for its seventh straight win.

The Bulls, who sit in second in the AAC, will face a tough test at home Wednesday night when the AAC’s third best team, Houston (20-7, 9-4), comes to the Sun Dome for a 7 p.m. tipoff. 

USF hasn’t faced Houston in 2018, but the game could have high implications for AAC Tournament seeding with three regular-season games remaining. After Houston, the Bulls face Cincinnati (16-10, 8-5) before closing the season against undefeated UConn (26-0, 13-0).

The current AAC standings are:

UConn 13-0 
USF 11-2 
Houston 9-4 
UCF 9-4 
Cincinnati 8-5
Wichita State 7-7 
ECU 6-7 
Tulane 4-9 
SMU 4-9
Tulsa 3-10 
Memphis 3-10 
Temple 2-11

Bulls get weekly honors after strong weekend performances

USF baseball’s Shane McClanahan was named the first American Athletic Pitcher of the Week in 2018, the league announced Monday.

In the women's basketball team's seven-game win streak, forward Maria Jespersen has scored in double digits six times. In her past two games alone she’s scored a total of 49 points, collected 25 rebounds, nine assists and two blocks, landing her on the AAC’s weekly honor roll for the seventh time this season.