CORAL GABLES, Fla. (Interstat) — Dominic Pontbriant delivered a dominant relief performance and the South Florida Bulls capitalized on a chaotic first inning to defeat the Miami Hurricanes 4-2 on Wednesday night at Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park.

The Bulls (26-10) defied pregame projections that heavily favored the Hurricanes (27-10), who were given a 71.2% win probability by Interstat’s ELO system. The victory was anchored by a four-run first inning against Miami starter TJ Coats and a masterful bullpen effort led by Pontbriant.

South Florida struck immediately. Drew Pruitt led off the game with a single, advanced to second on a stolen base and a throwing error by Miami catcher Daniel Alvarez, and scored on an RBI single by Lance Trippel. After a popout, Joey Brenczewski grounded out, moving another runner into scoring position. Drew Relaford then laid down a bunt single toward the mound, scoring Trippel. A throwing error by Coats on the play allowed the inning to continue, and the Bulls took a 4-0 lead before Coats could record the third out.

Miami answered with two runs in the bottom of the first against USF starter Lawson Gailey. Blake Ogden doubled and later scored on a triple by Daniel Sosa. After a walk, Max Galvin singled to center to plate Sosa, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Gailey was pulled after recording just one out, bringing Pontbriant into the game with two on and one out.

The right-hander extinguished the threat by striking out JD West and getting Jake Sheahan to ground out. He then proceeded to silence the Hurricane bats, not allowing a hit over 5 2/3 innings of work. Pontbriant (1-0) struck out five, walked two and allowed only the two inherited runners to score, earning the win with a clutch long-relief appearance.

The most important part of the game was Pontbriant’s immediate stabilization of a precarious situation. Entering with a narrow two-run lead, the bases potentially brewing, and Miami’s powerful lineup poised for a big inning, he provided shutdown relief that allowed the early lead to stand.

South Florida added an insurance run in the third inning when Brenczewski launched his first home run of the season deep to right field off Coats, making it 5-2.

Coats (3-2) settled in after the rough start, lasting six innings and allowing five runs on seven hits, but took the loss. The Hurricanes’ bullpen of Jake Dorn and Sebastian SantosOlson held the Bulls scoreless over the final three innings, but the Miami offense could not mount a comeback.

The Hurricanes threatened in the ninth against USF closer Ethan Sutton. Walks to West and Galvin, followed by a sacrifice bunt, put the tying runs in scoring position with one out. But Sutton induced a sharp line drive from Alvarez that was snared by shortstop Eric Lutz, who then doubled off the runner at second base to end the game in dramatic fashion.

Trippel went 2 for 5 with an RBI for South Florida, while Galvin was 2 for 4 with an RBI for Miami. The Bulls’ bullpen quartet of Pontbriant, Landen Yorek, Gailey and Sutton combined for 8 2/3 scoreless innings, yielding just three hits.

South Florida begins a three-game home series against UAB on Friday. Miami travels to California for a three-game set at Stanford, also beginning Friday.