Offensively, the UCF baseball team has been lights out so far this season.
On Tuesday, the pitching staff wanted to make sure they made their statement as well.
Seven different pitchers on the Knights staff, led by starter Bryan Adkins, combined to allow just two hits against Bethune-Cookman, helping UCF nab their first shutout since May 8, 2009 against Rice, en route to a 13-0 all-around victory in Daytona Beach.
UCF (13-0) extended their non-conference win streak to 18 consecutive games and with 13 runs, extended their streak to eight-consecutive games with 10 or more runs.
Adkins (1-0) pitched the opening three innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five Wildcat batters for his first win of the season. Alex Besaw, Ben Lively, Johnny Sedlock, Brennan Dobbins, Bryan Brown and Trevor Berry followed Adkins and allowed just one hit over the final six innings, fanning six while giving up just two walks.
The two hits allowed were the fewest a UCF staff has allowed since April 13, 2008, where they gave up two hits to Memphis.
Offensively, Beau Taylor led the way for the Knights. The catcher racked up three hits, extending his hitting streak to 25-games, just one shy of tying Mike Myers for the all-time record set back in 2001. He also added two RBIs and crossed the plate three times in the win.
Every UCF player in the lineup recorded a hit, capped by Darnell Sweeny, who went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs, and Ryan Breen, who drove in four on three hits.
The Knights jumped out to an early 1-0 on back-to-back doubles in the top of the second by Taylor and Jonathan Griffin. A Breen RBI double and a B-CU error plated three more runs for the Knights in the inning.
Breen came up again big in the clutch again for the Knights in the third, as he sent a single into right-center, plating two runs and pushing the lead to 6-0 Knights. A Sweeney triple and RBIs from Taylor and Breen helped the Knights blow the game open in the sixth, as they took an 11-0 lead to put the game out of reach.
With the win, the Knights are 4-0 to start a season for the first time since the 2008 campaign.
