After three straight losing seasons, USF baseball found itself starting from scratch for the eighth time in the program’s history in 2024.

A month after firing former Bulls coach Billy Mohl, USF brought on Indiana State Coach Mitch Hannahs in June to lead its baseball program for the foreseeable future. 

Coming into his first season, Hannahs made his message clear.

“I want to win for these folks,” Hannahs said in his introductory press conference.

USF Athletics and Hannahs have declined multiple interview requests from The Oracle. 

In Hannahs first season, the Bulls did win — capping off their 31-25 season with the program’s first winning in-conference record since 2018. 

USF’s season came to a close with a 7-9 loss to East Carolina in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament in May.

The Bulls had not made it to the semifinals since 2023, painting a promising picture following their return to the latter half of the AAC tournament. 

Related: USF baseball ends conference tournament run in semifinals

“This group started in August and we pushed them really hard,” Hannahs said after the loss to ECU. “These guys gave us everything they had.” 

Early in the Bulls’ season, that mentality showed. 

USF started off its season with a Feb. 16 series victory over Iowa that painted a promising picture for the team.

Starting in the first game of the season, junior pitcher Corey Braun would become a prominent figure in the Bulls’ season. 

Braun spent much of his year as the Friday starter from the bump for USF, amassing eight wins in the process – the most for any Bulls pitcher. 

Later that same week, the Bulls trotted out junior pitcher Bryce Archie for a date with No. 9 Florida State. 

Archie, a dual-sport athlete, looked promising against the Seminoles despite USF’s 6-2 loss. He struck out four while not allowing any runs. 

Related: USF football releases kickoff times ahead of 2025 season

Before the loss to FSU, Hannahs made his intentions on the season clear. 

“It’s all about how you compete,” Hannahs said on the Jay Recher podcast before the game. “It’s a great opportunity to get a top-10 team in here.”  

Archie and Braun would become a promising duo for the Bulls well into the season, combining for an ERA of 3.48 throughout the year. USF pitchers combined for an ERA of 5.31 in 2025.  

The Bulls’ collective ERA has not been below 5 since 2019, including a collective 6.82 ERA in 2023. 

After the loss to Florida State, the Bulls found themselves pitter-pattering down the stretch of their out-of-conference schedule. 

USF would pick up a series and quickly drop the next, stumbling to an 11-8 record by the time the Bulls reached conference play. 

After a midweek series win over FGCU, the Bulls jumped out to a 9-5 start to conference play. USF made quick work of UAB, Tulane and Memphis.

The Bulls’ season closed out just as they had started it. USF hobbled in the final stretch, heading to a 10-9 record through its final 19 regular-season games.

In that stretch, the Bulls grabbed what could be described as their season’s magnum opus — a dominant 7-1 victory over the in-state rival Florida Gators.

With the victory under their belt, the Bulls entered the AAC tournament as the third-seeded team. 

Quickly, the Bulls found themselves in the losers’ bracket following a 9-4 loss to East Carolina. 

“Going through that losers bracket is such a tough path,” Hannahs said after the end of the season.

Despite the tough task, USF was up to Hannahs’ perceived challenge. The Bulls dispatched Wichita State and Charlotte on their way to a second matchup against ECU in the semifinals.

Just four days after the Bulls’ first loss to ECU, USF found itself on the wrong side of an upset once again as the season came to a close.

After the loss, Hannahs set his sights on the future of the program.

“The biggest lesson for these guys is champions are made in the fall,” Hannahs said after the loss to ECU. “We have to continue to drill that into our guys.” 

The Bulls will lose nine seniors out of their 40 rostered players, including infielders Sebastian Greico and Bradke Lohry. 

Still, repeating the success of the Bulls first winning season since 2021 will be on the mind of Hannahs and company.

CORRECTION: Coach Hannahs name was misspelled in the headline and last graph in a previous version of this story. The story has been corrected.