Troy Stefanski’s hard chopper in the bottom of the ninth inning bounced over a drawn-in infield, brought John Toppa in from third and sent No. 3-seeded UConn on to the championship final for the second time in three seasons with a 3-2 win against No. 2-seeded USF at Spectrum Field.
 
With one out and the bases loaded, Stefanski grounded a 1-1 pitch to short that took a high bounce over the shortstop’s head to end the game.


 
With the score tied at 2-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, Toppa reached on an infield hit past the pitcher and took second on Anthony Prato’s base hit to right-center. The runners moved up on a groundout, and cleanup hitter Isaac Feldstein was intentionally walked with first base open to set the table for Stefanski.
 
Prato went 3-for-3, meanwhile, improving his tournament-leading batting average to .692 in the Huskies’ four games in Clearwater.
 
Each team traded the lead Friday before UConn tied the game in the bottom of the sixth pinch-runner Anthony Nucerino scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-2.
 
The Bulls had built an early 2-1 lead on a pair of solo home runs. Joe Genord drilled a round-tripper to left with two outs in the top of the third and Duke Stunkel Jr., cleared the fence in left with one out in the fifth.
 
UConn closer P.J. Poulin (6-2) was credited with the win after he worked a scoreless top of the ninth. Stefanski and Christian Fedko finished with two hits each for the Huskies (35-19-1).
 
USF was led by J.D. Dutka, who went 3-for-4, while Garrett Zech was 2-for-4. Andrew Perez took the loss for the Bulls (5-3).