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March 9, 2017

Vol. 54 No. 45

Unity in tragedy

USF community comes together to help victims of Province fire Page 3 International Women’s Day Page 4

A sweeter side of life Page 6

USF splits doubleheader Page 10

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the Oracle the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966

Editor in Chief Jacob Hoag oracleeditor@gmail.com

Associate Editor Breanne Williams oracleopinion@gmail.com Lifestyle Editor Nicole Cate oraclelifestyleeditor@gmail.com

News........................................................3 Opinion.................................................4 Lifestyle................................................6 Classifieds...........................................8 Crossword..........................................8 Sports...................................................10

Advertising Sales Alyssa Alexander Ashley Bazile Destiny Moore Dylan Ritchey

Multimedia Editor Jackie Benitez oraclemultimediaeditor@gmail.com

The Oracle is published Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, and once weekly, Wednesday, during the summer.

The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student. Additional copies are $.50 each and available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002).

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T H E O R AC L E

The Index

Graphic Artists Destiny Moore Mark Soree

Managing Editor Miki Shine oraclemeditor@gmail.com Sports Editor Vinnie Portell oraclesportseditor@gmail.com

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CORRECTIONS The Oracle will correct or clarify factual errors.

Contact Editor in Chief Jacob Hoag at 974-5190.

News Briefs

news

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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T H E O R AC L E

USF community comes together to help victims of Province fire ●

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WikiLeaks unlocks Vault 7 Vault 7 has been referred to by WikiLeaks as “the largest ever publication of confidential documents” on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to the New York Times.

WikiLeaks already released part one of these documents.

Some of the stories have been written, while leaving hundreds of impactful stories unreported to encourage journalists to find them.

The section released Tuesday has been referred to as “Year Zero” and is comprised of 8,761 documents and files from a CIA location in Virginia.

One of the most discussed points in Year Zero is the idea that the government isn’t informing companies of holes in their electronic security in order to use them to investigate threats to the country.

Additionally, the documents discuss the program called “Weeping Angel,” which reportedly infects Samsung Smart TVs and turns them into covert microphones. It also reportedly creates a fake off-mode during which the TV isn’t actually off and is still recording.

CORRECTION

Sujit Chemburkar is director of the Marshall Student Center. A story in Monday’s edition gave an incorrect job title.

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Faculty Senate introduces resolution in opposition of Campus Carry

The USF Faculty Senate Executive Committee put forth a resolution in opposition of the Campus Carry bill. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

By Jacob Hoag E D I T O R

After a fire displaced 41 residents at The Province Apartments, students have started collecting donations for those affected. ORACLE PHOTO/BREANNE WILLIAMS

By Miki Shine M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

Flames engulfed the furniture, clothing and other personal belongings of USF students residing in The Province apartments Thursday.

The fire displaced 172 residents as it moved through building 18. Of those 172, 41 were unable to move back in due to damage, according to spokeswoman Gina Cowart.

The USF community is not taking the situation lying down, as three GoFundMe pages have been created to support the victims of the fire.

“We have other sorority sisters who lived in the complex,

and we heard how bad it was,” said Kyra Lowery, the organizer of one of the GoFundMe pages and member of Kappa Delta.

“We weren’t sure at first who was affected, how many people were affected, that it was even our sisters.

“Immediately we had people running out to buy the essentials: tooth paste, tooth brushes, shampoo, face wash, deodorant. Then it became apparent that they had lost pretty much everything and it was all gone. They had no money, they had no computers, and they had no clothes.”

According to multiple reports, discarded “smoking

material” on the second-floor balcony started the fire.

The fire engulfed the building and burned four apartments before being put out by Tampa Fire Rescue. All of the residents of the building were temporarily removed.

The apartment complex has put those affected by the fire up in hotel rooms.

“The Province community has worked together to take care of each other during this unfortunate incident,” Cowart said in an email to The Oracle.

“We were able to provide temporary accommodations to all residents who requested it.

n See FIRE on PAGE 9

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C H I E F

With one of the more controversial bills currently moving through the Florida Legislature in HB 6005 (Campus Carry), the USF Tampa Faculty Senate Executive Committee has put forth a resolution in opposition.

“Be it resolved that the USFT Faculty Senate strongly opposes any legislation that allows individuals other than sworn law enforcement officers to carry firearms on the university campus,” the resolution said.

The bill, the brainchild of Sen. Greg Steube (R), looks to eliminate the restriction placed on the second amendment for people with a concealed weapon permit to carry a firearm onto college campuses, in airport terminals and at government meetings.

A similar bill was put forth and shot down last year.

The resolution, sponsored by Senate President Michael Teng,

n See SENATE on PAGE 7

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Opinion

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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International Women’s Day protest not enough for true change

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What you said International Women’s Day was Wednesday, and Associate Editor Breanne Williams asked students what they feel is the biggest issue American women are facing today.

“I think the concern right now is the urgency for their voices to be heard. It’s not one particular subject, it’s that they are powerful as a population.”

- Michael Inderlin, a junior majoring in health sciences

A protest on International Women’s Day hoped to show the impact women have on the U.S. economy.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

International Women’s Day on Wednesday saw calls to action, protests and celebrations across the globe. Many reflected on how far women’s rights have come in the past few decades, while some looked ahead to the challenges to be overcome.

In the U.S. many people joined the #ADayWithoutAWoman, a national strike encouraging women to take the day off work and school and not shop unless it was at a woman- or minorityowned business.

People wore red in solidarity of the movement and rallies were held in major cities for those who chose to participate in the strike.

But does wearing a red shirt and refusing to eat out really make a difference? If enough people participated it would. However, with a flimsy following it will just be a ripple in an otherwise tumultuous sea.

This is the first major action by the organizers of the Women’s March since the international protests following Inauguration Day. The goal was to highlight the financial impact women make in this country and to show what it would be like without them.

Despite the fact that women make up more than 47 percent of the workforce, they continue to be paid less than men, earning 80 cents for every dollar a

man makes, according to the U.S. Census. The median income for men was $51,212 in 2015, compared with $40,742 for women.

So women refused to open their wallets. The spokeswoman for the protest, Cassady Findlay, told Fox News the movement would hopefully highlight how the paid and unpaid work of American woman impacted the economy and local communities.

“We provide all this value and keep the system going and receive unequal benefits from it,” Findlay said.

Yes, hundreds of people attended rallies in cities like New York City, Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Hundreds refused to clock in for work. Some were even arrested for attempting to block traffic around Trump Tower in New York City.

Students across the country were given “excused absence” passes by the national organizers and some even skipped class. After all, women make up 55 percent of all college students.

A student at USF made a social media page reminding students of the national holiday and told The Oracle she hoped students would participate to show the impact women have on the university.

But did it make an impact? Did the administration take notice?

That remains unclear.

President Donald Trump did tweet about International Women’s Day, encouraging others to honor the “critical role of women here in America.” However, he did not mention the protest.

His administration has yet to make any stances on health care that would prevent the restriction of women’s rights and has not addressed the wage gap that still persists.

Hopefully, the trending hashtag and lack of contribution by women to today’s economy was enough to at least get those in the administration to talk about the many women’s issues they have chosen to ignore.

But simply tweeting at a cause isn’t enough to create meaningful change. We need to continue to monitor our politicians and when they do something, or consider doing something that restricts our rights, the entire nation must stand up in resistance.

Making phone calls, writing letters, voting in local elections, boycotting and unifying in marches is how you force those in power to listen. The protest on Wednesday was a nice start, but without further action it will have meant nothing.

Breanne Williams is a senior majoring in mass communications.

“Equal pay and reproductive rights.”

- Riann Thie, a sophomore majoring in pre-nursing

“Equal pay, birth control and the fight for abortion rights. Who knows what’s going to happen now?”

- Melanece Wesley, a senior majoring in social work

“Donald Trump. That covers all of them.”

- Peter Sansil, a sophomore majoring in architecture

N.I.T.E. walk encourages students to report safety risks T H U R S DAY, M A R C H 9 , 2 0 1 7

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By Morgan Blauth S T A F F

W R I T E R

Groups of students and staff will patrol USF’s campus Thursday during the N.I.T.E. walk, which aims to promote safety on campus.

The walk is put on by the student organization Network, Improve, Transform and Empower (N.I.T.E.) and takes place every semester. Other on-campus agencies such as University Police (UP) and Students with Disabilities Services also participate.

During the walk, students will be divided into 11 groups of fiveto-six people. Each team will head to a different part of campus and look for potential safety hazards such as overgrown bushes, cracks in the sidewalks or burnt-out light bulbs.

Alexandra Pellot, the president of N.I.T.E., said that the Physical Plant fixes most things noted on the walk within a month.

Bigger projects are added to a “wish list” and may take more than one semester to be

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implemented.

“The wish list would be things like if we feel a blue light is a little far from the next one … we would like more lights in this area, another crosswalk so that people can cross safely in certain areas, things like that,” Pellot said.

The event is held at night to ensure that campus is safe at all times.

“A lot of things during the day we wouldn’t be able to see [like] the lights that are out, and that could really affect our safety by not being able to see our surroundings,” Pellot said.

Re n n a Re d d i c k , communications and marketing officer for UP, said that students play an important role in their own safety.

“One way to accomplish this is by always remaining aware of your surroundings,” Reddick said in an email. “Using the ‘buddy system’ is always a great option.”

The free event will begin tonight at 7:30 in the Marshall Student Center Crescent Hill Patio.

University Police encourage the N.I.T.E. walk because it plays an important role in students participating in their own safety on campus. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

LIFESTYLE

A sweeter side of life

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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How a popular Tampa confectionery is growing faster than expected

By Nicole Cate L I F E S T Y L E

E D I T O R

Anyone living in Florida with a pulse, a sweet tooth and social media has probably seen these tiny treats all over their feed by now. Nestled on South Dale Mabry Highway, in a muted gray building that is far too easy to pass if the driver isn’t paying close enough attention, is the Mini Doughnut Factory.

The dessert eatery, owned by Patrick & Zezura Ruddell, can be described by social media aficionados as ‘Instagrammable’. The bite-sized confectioneries come in many unique and visually-pleasing variations including Fruity Pebbles, which is topped with bits of the cereal; cotton candy, that touts colorful pink and blue pop rocks; and sweet pig, decorated with bacon and maple icing.

They also sell doughnut shakes, doughnut sundaes and their own in-house cold brew coffee.

The Ruddells have been together for over 20 years and have owned several businesses together, including a science fiction website. Before opening the shop, they were real estate investors and had flipped 700 houses in the 10 years they were in that field.

“Real estate is a very cyclical business. We were looking for something that’s recession-proof, and sweet treats are that,” Patrick said. “When you’re celebrating, you want a sweet treat. When you’re having a bad day, you want a sweet treat to help you feel better.”

They decided to look around their neighborhood of Wesley Chapel for new ideas. What they found was five Dunkin’ Donuts within a five mile radius of their house, but thought that it wasn’t being made to its full potential.

“As an entrepreneur, you look for a product that can be done better, and doughnuts is that,” Patrick said. “We figured we could do doughnuts better than Dunkin’ Donuts, and we did.”

They originally wanted the flag-

Mini Doughnut Factory has unique doughnut toppings such as Rice Krispies, Fruity Pebbles, bacon bits and pop rocks. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ ship store to be in Wesley Chapel, as they’re already involved in the community there, but they couldn’t find a space.

That’s when Patrick had the idea to Google the top-10 doughnut places in Tampa and email them the line “I’m interested in buying.

Are you interested in selling your business?”

Perk’s Donut Bar, which had just opened the year before, showed interest, so the Ruddells went to visit the location a few days later.

“It wound up to be the perfect space. They even have some of the similar equipment that we needed.

It was kind of like it was meant for (us),” Zezura said. “The floors were how we had envisioned, they had a lot of the equipment that we were going to buy. We loved the place

and we worked out a deal and moved forward with that one.”

They spent three weeks at Perk’s, working in the shop and learning how to use the equipment for themselves.

Mini Doughnut factory opened on November 15, 2015, at 2109 S Dale Mabry Hwy. They never expected to gain the traction and following they did.

“It took over like wildfire,” Patrick said. “Social media is everything, so the minute it got posted to social media … It just went quick.”

He also attributes their popularity to a loyal customer base. He calls the store’s patrons “advocates on social media.”

There were even a few who contacted Charley Belcher, a fea-

ture reporter at FOX 13, and told him about the new business. That’s how the Ruddells and their store ended up on TV. The store kept getting busier and busier. During the first few months, both Patrick and Zezura found themselves working about 80-to-100 hours per week each.

Naturally, this took a toll on their personal lives.

“At some point, it actually started to drive a wedge in between us and we actually were separated for a while,” Zezura said.

She went on to say that at a certain point, they came to the realization that they were too good of a team together.

“She’s always been my best friend,” Patrick said. “Even when we separated, she was my best

friend.”

They both still believe that, while stressful, owning the business has been a joyful experience.

Even with working the 80 hour weeks, they described it as fun.

Over a year later, the couple has made plans to expand to four more stores.

“We didn’t come to that decision,” Patrick said. “The customers did.”

After receiving feedback from travelers who came from St. Petersburg, Pinellas county, Wesley Chapel, Orlando and Jacksonville, they believed this to be the next best step.

They have already signed a lease for the location in St. Petersburg, and they are in the process of negotiating a lease in Wesley Chapel.

They are looking at Orlando for the fourth store, but the fifth is still up in the air, with Miami being in the forefront of their options.

The goal is to have all four open within the next year, with the St. Petersburg and Wesley Chapel locations finished by the end of 2017.

While they don’t offer sales, the Ruddells love teaming up with various charities. On National Doughnut Day, instead of giving out free doughnuts, they pledged a percentage of their proceeds to All Children’s Hospital, and ended up donating $1,000.

Mini Doughnut Factory has been presented with multiple awards, including ‘Business of the Year’ by the South Chamber of Commerce, Creative Loafing’s ‘Best of the Bay - Best Doughnuts’ and ‘Best of the Bay - Best New Business’.

The Ruddells pin their success on their customer service, as they say they treat all customers like family. They’ve become friends with many people who frequent their store, even going on double dates with a few. They believe every customer should be appreciated.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a $3 order or a $300 order,” Patrick said. “They all count.”

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has been passed with a majority vote through the executive committee and now continues to the full Faculty Senate. The FSU Faculty Senate has also put through a similar resolution.

“Universities are sanctuaries for scholarship and learning, where firearms have traditionally not been allowed,” the resolution said. “The presence of concealed weapons on campus has not proven effective at preventing mass shootings on college campuses in states that allow campus carry.”

Changes to pre-eminence The USF administration is keeping a close eye on the Florida Legislature this spring in hopes of moving one step closer to pre-eminent status.

The “Florida Excellence in High Education Act of 2017,” which would ease one of USF’s remaining benchmarks to qualify, is currently moving through the Legislature.

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The bill would change the requirement from a 70 percent six-year graduation rate to a 50 percent four-year rate. The university has a 51 percent fouryear graduation as of summer 2016.

“Who knows in this legislative session,” USF Provost Ralph Wilcox told the Executive Committee on Wednesday.

“There could be tweaks to performance-based funding and pre-eminence. But still, without change, our plan is still to meet that 11th metric for preeminence in 2018.”

USF must meet 11 of the 12 metrics to achieve full preeminence — and receive its share of the $20 million of recurring money from the state split with UF and FSU, the only two state pre-eminent schools.

USF now meets 10 of the 12 benchmarks after recently surpassing the 90 percent freshman retention rate for the first time in school history.

The other motivation for USF to reach full pre-eminent status is the proposed cut in funding for emerging pre-eminent schools such as USF. The bill would cut the current funding

by 50 percent from $10 million to $5 million.

USF boasts multiple national rankings USF has been nationally recognized for a variety of aspects in the recent weeks from No. 1 in Florida for black student success to producing the most Fulbright Scholars in the nation.

USF ranks No. 1 in Florida and sixth nationally in bridging the graduation gap between black and white students, according to a report released by The Education Trust on March 1.

“That’s been a major commitment of our Student Success Initiative the past few years, essentially eliminating any gap in completion rates white students, African American students, Hispanic students and any gap based on socioeconomic status,” Wilcox said.

The school’s graduation rate of black students has risen to 69 percent, compared to the national average of 40.9 detailed in the report. USF has only a 2.1 percent graduation

USF leads the nation with 12 Fulbright Scholars. Ohio State is second with 10. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ rate gap between black and white students, according to the report.

The school also boasts 12 Fulbright Scholars, which leads the nation. Ohio State ranks second with 10.

Fulbright Scholarships are competitive, merit-based grants given to students to study internationally.

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Classifieds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

To place a classified ad go to ANNOUNCEMENTS

myAPAeditor@gmail.com

Crossword

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http://www.usforacle.com/classifieds

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS/ REQUIREMENTS: HS Diploma preferred. Previous retail and/or pool supply experience preferred.

Will train. Excellent customer service skills required.

Email store179@pinchapenny.com

Surgical Front Office - Super Student Worker Super motivated college student sought for surgical office work in Tampa.

Flexible hours 20-30 / week. Must have excellent touch-typing speed and accuracy (you will be tested) and pleasant disposition and superb people and telephone skills. Must be able to use Mac OS. You will definitely learn new career enhancing skills and be an integral part of a dynamic office. Please provide resume. Position available immediately.

Email rmj@safe-mail.net

Specialty dental practice across from USF looking to hire a part time business assistant!

This assistant will help us take and manage incoming calls after office hours.

Ideal position for pre dental students or students studying business administration/communications.

Flexible hours to accommodate your school schedule, especially if you take day classes!

Please call (813) 977-2928 or email your resume to mhuynh@implantperio.com

APTS & HOUSES FOR RENT Room For Rent Large Room with large closet, private bath and entrance. Very close to USF. Please contact Angela at (813) 9890349 for more details.

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Five bills to know about in the legislative session T H U R S DAY, M A R C H 9 , 2 0 1 7

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By Miki Shine M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

The Florida legislative session opened on Wednesday. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are looking at bills that would directly affect college students. Here are five that students should be aware of as the session continues.

House Bill 509: Postsecondary Fee Waivers This bill, proposed by House Representative Mel Ponder (R), would allow for universities to waive any portion of the Activity and Service fee, the Financial Aid fee, the Technology fee, the Capital Improvement fee and any other fees for a person who is an active duty member. Each college system would report to the State Board of Education the number and value of all fee wavers granted. If passed, the bill would take effect July 1.

Senate Bill 144: Use of Wireless Communications Devices While Driving This

bill,

proposed

by

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Communications, Energy and Public Utilities, would allow law enforcement officers to issue citations to people texting while driving. The main difference between this and what’s already a law is that the bill allows officers to pull people over for driving rather than it having to be in addition to another violation.

It also states that all proceeds collected through the citations would go to the Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund of the Department of Health.

House Bill 575: Threats to Kill or Do Bodily Injury This bill, proposed by the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, clarifies a pre-existing law that makes it a felony to “write or record, including an electronic record” that threatens bodily injury or death to another person. It also clearly defines that it needs to be a message or recording that “would allow another person to view the threat.”

Senate Bill 624: Body Cameras

This bill, proposed by Sen. Greg Steube (R), would require law enforcement agencies that use body cameras to establish policies and procedures that would include allowing the officer to review footage before taking certain actions. These actions include writing a report or providing a statement regarding an event except when the officer provides information at the scene of an incident “for the sole purposes of identifying and preserving the crime scene and identifying witnesses and suspects.”

House Bill 6005: Campus Carry This bill, proposed by Sen. Greg Steube (R), would allow for those who have a concealed carry permit to carry a firearm on college or university facilities.

Currently, only law enforcement is allowed to carry on campus for defense purposes. A similar bill was reviewed in last year’s legislative session and failed.

FIRE

Continued from PAGE 3

We also worked with nearby apartments to provide a list of vacancies to make it easier to find a new place.

“Residents were also provided with a list of USF resources in case additional support is needed.”

Between the three GoFundMe pages, over $4,800 has been raised. Lowery’s page, “USF Kappa Delta Sister Fire Damage,” has raised 75 percent of that, with $3,610. She said donations are continuing to come in.

The page “Province Fire Fundraiser” has collected $970, and the page “Province Fire Fund,” organized by the USF Panhellenic Association, has collected $230.

“We’ve had a lot of Kappa Deltas across the country contribute,” Lowery said. “But we’ve also had plenty of USF students and adults who know Danielle (Golson) and Shelby (Winkler) who were affected, and we’ve had just anonymous people who wanted to help out with the cause.”

Along with the GoFundMe page, Lowery said the sisters of Kappa Delta and others in Greek Life have been collecting spare clothes, food and toiletries for those impacted by the fire.

“At first, they were very positive about everything, and I think they were trying to keep their spirits high and not think about everything they’d lost,” Lowery said. “When they found out that their sisters had started this GoFundMe and had immediately started donating clothes and essential items, they completely just broke down.”

Lowery said she never thought they’d raise as much as they have and that every donation helps, regardless of the amount.

“I was just amazed at all of the support and love that was pouring out of everybody whether they knew someone effected or not,” Lowery said.

“It just shows you that everyone is there for you in times of need and it just warmed my heart. It made me cry and I wasn’t even directly affected. The support from everyone has just been amazing and I couldn’t thank anyone more.”

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Sports

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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USF softball splits double header Merrell’s

Softball

Baseball

two homers power 8-1 win

Junior shortstop Kevin Merrell blasted two homers in USF’s 8-1 win over Villanova on Wednesday night. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE

BENITEZ

By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S

USF pitcher Hannah Parker closed out the Bulls’ 6-4 win over Boston College on Wednesday. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

By Josh Fiallo S T A F F

W R I T E R

The Bulls took on both Pennsylvania and Boston College on Wednesday night at USF Softball Stadium, earning a quality win as well as a headscratching loss.

Surviving a last inning scare, the Bulls defeated Boston College (14-9) in the first leg of their double header, 6-4.

USF declined to make players and coaches available to The Oracle.

Down by four entering the seventh inning, a hit batter, then a two run homer for the Eagles cut the Bulls lead down to two.

Following the two-run shot,

the Eagles notched another base hit, bringing the potential tying run to the plate, and prompting Coach Ken Ericksen to make a pitching change.

Ericksen called on the game’s original starter, Hannah Parker, to come in and close out the win.

Parker would do just that, retiring the next three Eagles she faced, snapping Boston College’s three game win streak.

Pitching six innings total, giving up two earned runs, Parker held the Eagles in check, while the Bull’s bats handled the rest.

The top seven batters of the Bulls lineup recorded a

hit against Boston College, including a three-run long ball via Cassidy Boyle.

The Bull’s bats, however, would go cold in their second matchup of the night.

Facing off against the Pennsylvania Quakers, the Bulls dug themselves a hole early, and were unable to pull their way out.

With Cheyenne Eggens on the mound to start the game, the Bulls surrendered a double, an error, then a base hit. Down 2-0, and having faced only three batters, Eriksen elected to pull Eggens in favor Susan Wysocki.

Wysocki allowed no earned runs.

Parker would do the same, coming in relief for Wysocki in the top of the sixth, pitching her way out of a bases loaded jam.

The problem for the Bulls wasn’t on the mound, but at the plate.

Despite knocking two balls out the park, the Bulls struggled to get on base throughout, recording just three hits.

The loss is the Bulls first of the season to a team with a losing record, and the Quakers first win against a team with a winning record.

The Bulls will be back in action on Friday, when Purdue (3-16) comes to Tampa at 2 p.m.

E D I T O R

For the 11th straight game, USF baseball dispatched its opposition as it continues to build on the best start in program history.

Led by six innings of one-run ball by freshman pitcher D.J. Roberts and two homers from shortstop Kevin Merrell, the Bulls trampled Villanova on Wednesday night for an 8-1 victory at the USF Baseball Stadium.

“Well, I think our team is gaining confidence when every guy we put out there on the mound gets their job done,” USF coach Mark Kingston said. “99 percent of the time, the guys we’re putting out there, whether we ask them for three outs or 15 outs, they’re getting the job done consistently, so I think the team gains a lot of confidence from that.”

Roberts (2-0) held the Wildcats in check all night, taking a no-hitter

n See HOMERS on PAGE 11

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into the sixth inning before allowing the lone run of the night. The freshman ended his night allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out six.

“Right now, he’s giving you everything you can ask for out of a freshman,” Kingston said. “He doesn’t look like a freshman out there, he kept the ball down in the zone and had good stuff.”

With Villanova (1-10) held off

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the base paths for most of the night, USF’s offense quickly put the game out of reach.

Merrell’s first homer of the evening, a three-run shot that ricocheted off the Josephine Ramil Campo Batting Facility, was the first of back-to-back shots by Merrell and second baseman Coco Montes in the bottom of the fourth. “(Adding power over the offseason) was definitely a focus,” Merrell said. “Not really home runs, more gap-to-gap doubles and triples. But, we got the win tonight.

It was a fun night.”

With the Bulls leading 7-1 in the seventh, Merrell launched a ball off the scoreboard over the right field wall to end the scoring.

After Roberts departed, USF’s bullpen continued to dominate as they have all season, as three relievers combined to allow no base runners while striking out three over the final three innings.

USF (12-1) will get three chances to extend its winning streak when it hosts Valparaiso this weekend at the USF Baseball Stadium.

USF reportedly eyeing former Georgia Tech coach for men’s basketball position Multiple reports have linked former Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Brian Gregory to USF’s current opening.

First reported by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, Gregory, 50, spent this season as a consultant for Michigan State, the same school he began his coaching career with.

“You move forward and hopefully there’s a really good opportunity where we can build something special,” Gregory told mlive.com last month.

“Because I thought we were on the cusp of that at Georgia Tech.

“But sometimes in this profession, you don’t always get to finish the job. And I totally get that. But hopefully, on this next one ... we’ll see.”

Gregory was fired from Georgia Tech with a 76-78 record after five seasons. Prior to Georgia Tech, he managed a 172-94 record and two NCAA Tournament berths in eight years at Dayton.

USF will close out its season in the AAC tournament with UConn first on the schedule Thursday night.

According to Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times, athletic director Mark Harlan is expected to make a hiring decision soon after the conclusion of the season.

-Staff report

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