CLEARWATER – Minutes before facing No. 3 seed Notre Dame in its Big East Tournament opener, University of South Florida coach Lelo Prado said the key was how freshman pitcher Derrick Stultz performed in the early innings.

“It’s like having a horse at the Kentucky Derby,” Prado said. “You don’t know how they’ll react until you get ‘em in the gate.
“We’ll know after two innings how he handles pitching in this atmosphere.”

Stultz, of Wharton, overcame a shaky start and sixth-seeded USF used a six-run second inning to upset third-seeded Notre Dame 9-3 at Bright House Field.

Senior 1B Joey Angelberger (3-for-6, two RBIs) and junior SS Addision Maruszak (3-for-5, two RBIs) paced USF’s 15-hit attack. Senior 3B Charles Cleveland also had two hits and two RBIs and freshman LF Junior Carlin added two hits and an RBI.

“Stultz did a good job,” Prado said. “He settled down and kept us in the ballgame.”

The game, which ended at 1:25 a.m. Wednesday morning, was the final of four games played in the first day of the Big East Tournament.

“Some people asked me if I was worried about playing so late,” Prado said. “But they all go out late anyway. I knew our kids wouldn’t be tired.”

In the other first-round contests: No. 4 seed Louisville downed No. 5 Seton Hall 12-3; No. 8 seed Villanova upset No. 1 St. John’s 12-0; and No. 2 Cincinnati beat No. 7 West Virginia 11-5.

In today’s elimination games: Seton Hall plays St. John’s at 10 a.m. and West Virginia plays Notre Dame at 1 p.m. Today’s winners’ bracket contests: Louisville vs. Villanova at 5 p.m. and Cincinnati vs. USF at 8 p.m. The Cincy-USF contest will be televised on Catch 47.

Stultz allowed two first-inning runs, but the Bulls (30-25) took control in the second.

Cleveland started the rally with a two-run single. After Mike Consolmagno walked, Carlin followed with an RBI single, Angelberger had a two-run single and
Maruszak an RBI groundout, making it 6-2.

Stultz allowed only one earned run before leaving after four innings. Prado said he left the game with a toe injury.

Freshman Matt Stull (5-2) picked up the win, allowing only one run in the final five innings.

“He was incredible,” USF pitching coach Lazer Collazo said. “He came in and threw strikes. It was a heck of a performance.”

The victory was USF’s fourth consecutive in the past six days against the Fighting Irish (33-20-1).

“That’s hard to do four times in a row, especially in a week,” Angelberger said. “Once again we got behind the eight-ball [trailing 2-0 in the first], but we bounced back in the second and our pitching shut the door.

“Notre Dame’s a good team. They can beat anyone, just not the Bulls.”

Leading 6-2 after three, the Bulls added single runs the next three innings. Marsuzak had an RBI groundout in the fourth, Consolmagno an RBI squeeze bunt in the fifth and Trey Manz’s sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 9-2.

“It was nice having a big lead,” Stull said. “But you can’t pitch defensively.”

USF junior RHP Daniel Thomas (2-3) will start tonight against Cincinnati.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Prado said. “Every game counts now. But we’re in the winners’ bracket. That’s all that matters right now.”