With Sunday’s 9-2 victory at St. John’s, the University of South Florida greatly improved its chances of qualifying for the Big East Baseball Tournament.

The Bulls (26-24, 11-13 Big East) are tied with Villanova (11-13 Big East) for seventh place with Rutgers (10-14) in ninth place. Only the top eight teams advance to the Big East Tournament, May 20-24 in Clearwater.

The Bulls won two of three from both Rutgers and Villanova so if USF ends up tied with either team or both schools, USF would win any tiebreaker for seventh or eighth place.

USF closes Big East Conference play with three games against Notre Dame Thursday through Saturday, while Rutgers visits Louisville and St. John’s hosts Villanova.

If USF wins two against the Irish, the Bulls clinch a spot in the league tournament.

Even if USF only wins one against the Irish, Rutgers would have sweep three games at Louisville to knock the Bulls out of the Big East Tournament.

If USF lost all three to the Irish, Rutgers has to win two of three against Louisville to keep the Bulls out of the Big East Tournament.

In Sunday’s win at St. John’s, senior 3B Charles Cleveland tied a school record with five hits and freshman Derrick Stultz got the complete game victory, scattering eight hits. Freshman OF Ryan Lockwood did not play because of a sprained left hand. Lockwood has the nation’s longest hitting streak at 30 games.

USF visits Florida in non-conference action Tuesday before closing out the regular season at home against the Irish.