The roar of USF's baseball players, coaches and staffers inside a Selmon Athletics Center conference room just after noon Monday was accompanied by a collective sigh of relief -- 13 years in the making -- elicited by its beleaguered fan base.
For the first time since 2002, the Bulls (33-24-1) are headed to the NCAA Tournament.
Perched tenuously on the bubble after dropping 10 of their final 16 regular season games, the Bulls saw their name pop up on the Gainesville Region bracket slightly more than halfway into ESPNU's broadcast of the 64-team field.
"It's just fun seeing your name up there after you put in the hard work," junior C Levi Borders said.