With every crack of the bat, it seemed like another runner crossed the plate during the Bulls’ narrow 9-7 win against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday.

Following a weekend series sweep over Tulane, the Bulls (17-9, 5-1 AAC) extended their winning streak to six games. 

Despite early season struggles, the Bulls have put together a string of convincing wins to put themselves in second place in the American Athletic Conference. 

In what was the Bulls’ fifth midweek game this season, USF has only fallen to fourth-ranked Florida State during its weekday affairs. 

In the first inning of freshman pitcher Nolan Bernard’s first start, he gave up a deep homerun to left field.

 Bernard gave up two more runs and was relieved in the top of the second. 

In the bottom of the first, junior catcher Lance Trippel returned the favor with a homerun of his own. The only difference being Trippel’s ball didn’t leave the field, marking what was the Bulls’ first inside the park homerun since 2018. 

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In the second, Bulls pitching was subpar. USF committed an error and gave up 4 runs in the inning, allowing the Wildcats to take a 5-3 lead. 

Once again, the Bulls responded quickly with a deep two-run homerun to right field, this time by senior infielder Sebastian Greico. 

Greico turned 5 at-bats into 4 hits, adding 3 runs and a pair of RBI. He credited his performance to the lengths the team goes to preparing for games.

“The main thing is that we have a lot of early work,” Greico said. “We come into the game really prepared knowing what we’re going to see that night.” 

Just like that, the game was all tied up at five. 

Throughout the midweek matchup, the Bulls had no struggles putting bat to ball. On top of their nine runs, the Bulls racked up 13 hits. 

“We have a lot of good guys that know we need to pass the bat to one another,” Greico said. 

The challenges for South Florida came on the rubber, as Bethune-Cookman’s (14-15) bats were equally as hot. 

USF gave up 11 hits on Tuesday afternoon, allowing the Wildcats to cross home plate seven times. 

After the third, Bethune-Cookman’s bats went quiet in large part to the efforts of sophomore pitcher Corban Little.

Little pitched three innings, allowing just three hits and no runs en route to his first win of the season. 

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After two scoreless innings, senior outfielder Marcus Brodil brought home two Bulls with a single. 

The Bulls’ three-run sixth inning sealed their win over Bethune-Cookman.  

In the final inning, pitcher Landen Yorek sealed the deal for the Bulls with a pair of strikeouts. 

The Bulls travel to Tennessee to take on the Memphis Tigers April 4 for a weekend series. All three games will be available on ESPN+.