The junior transfer sent the first nine Panthers he faced down in order before allowing a lead-off walk to Caleb Howell in the fourth. Two sacrifice bunts advanced Howell to third with two down, but Lovecchio induced a flyout from David Ciaglia to end the threat.

That was the only base runner Lovecchio would allow through the first seven.

Eastern Illinois starter Troy Barton kept USF off the board until the bottom of the sixth, as USF left six runners on base through the first five innings.

Daniel Rockhold and Buddy Putnam were both hit by a pitch to open the sixth, and Jimmy Falla laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance them to second and third with one down. The Bulls called upon Todd Brazeal to pinch hit for Kyle Copack, and Brazeal hit a groundball to short that scored Rockhold for the first run of the ballgame.

A single, an error, and an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Bulls with nobody out to start the seventh. After James Ramsay bounced into a force out, Rockhold lifted a double to left center field to drive home two, and Putnam followed with a single through the right side to make it 4-0 USF.

Ben Thoma, who was batting .194 to start the day, dug in against Lovecchio to start the eighth. Thoma battled through a nine pitch at-bat before chopping a ball back of third that bounced up the line for a leadoff double that ended Lovecchio's no-hit bid.

After a groundout advanced Thoma to third, pinch-hitter T.J. McMahon lifted a sacrifice fly to center to drive home Thoma with the Panthers' first and only run.

Lovecchio (3-0) finished having allowed just one run on three hits in eight strong innings on the mound.

USF added some insurance in the bottom half, thanks to two errors by Panthers' second baseman Nathan Sopena that gave the Bulls a 5-1 advantage.

Ray Delphey worked a scoreless ninth, allowing just a two-out single to Ciaglia while striking out two.

The Bulls are back in action on Monday at the USF Baseball Stadium, as they host Yale (2-6-1) at 7 p.m.