USF had five runners reach base through the first three innings but were held scoreless into the fourth. Knights' starter Ray Hansen was aided by two double plays which ended the first and third innings.

The Bulls (14-8) got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth. With one down Jimmy Falla drove a line shot out to left that kept carrying and cleared the leftfield wall for his second homerun of the season.

In the fifth, Stultz retired the first two hitters he faced before James Vazquez hit a sinking liner into center that fell just in front of Chad Taylor for the first UCF hit. Nick Carillo followed with a single, and Stultz hit the number-nine hitter Spencer Haynes with a pitch to load the bases.

Ronnie Richardson cleared the bases with a double, giving UCF the 3-1 advantage.

The Knights added another run without the aid of a hit in the sixth. With two down, Stultz hit Alex Friedrich with a pitch, and Friedrich stole second. A wild pitch that caromed high into the air and to the netting behind the plate allowed Friedrich to come in and score all the way from second with the Knights' fourth run.

Stultz walked two batters in the seventh and was removed with two on and two out in favor of Steven Leasure. Leasure allowed both inherited runners to score on a single from D.J. Hicks.

The Bulls' red-shirt senior finished having allowed six runs on just three hits in 6.2 innings. He walked two and hit three while striking out six, and suffered his first loss of the season.

USF out-hit its in-state rival six to five, but left six men on base in being held to just two runs.

The Bulls threatened in the eighth, when Alex Mendez and Chad Taylor led off with back-to-back singles and James Ramsay reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out against reliever Jimmy Reed.

Matt Hart hit a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Mendez to score and Taylor to advance to third. The throw back to third came lose on the infield and Ramsay took off for second, but was tagged out. Head coach Lelo Prado followed with an animated exchange in arguing the call and was ejected from the game.

USF is set to open Big East play at home on Friday, as they look to rebound from a two-game skid when they host Georgetown at 7 p.m.