Freshman pitcher Ben Lively improved to 5-0 and D.J. Hicks went 3-for-4 at the plate as the UCF baseball team pulled off the 7-2 upset over Conference USA rival No. 23 Rice.
In his first Friday-night start of the season, the righty Lively finished with 5.2 innings of work, allowing just two runs on four hits.
“Ben was the epitome of our team,” head coach Terry Rooney said in a release. “He really battled tonight but obviously needs to reduce his walks to continue to be successful. The positive of it was that he’s such a competitor that he worked out of jams, but the margin of error will keep decreasing.”
The win was the second of the season for the Knights (17-5 overall, 1-0 in C-USA) over a ranked team — they defeated No. 29 Alabama 12-7 on Feb 27 — and gave them their first win in conference in 2011.
“It was a great win. We battled hard all night,” Rooney said. “At the end of the Miami game Tuesday I told our guys that the majority of our games from now on will be close, hard-fought games. From this point on everyone we play in C-USA and in non-conference play are good teams. So we’ve got to be better from innings one to nine, and tonight we were.”
Hicks double in the top of the eighth helped extend the UCF lead to 4-2 as he reached base four times in the game. He also pitched in relief following Lively and helped secure the victory.
“Whenever you can get a conference win on a Friday night is huge. It sets the tone for the entire weekend,” Hicks said in a release. “I was fortune enough to get a couple hits and put us in position to win. Tonight I was little more locked in since it was the conference opener with a good crowd.”
The big blemish on the resume for Lively came in the bottom of the fourth. He issues three walks, loading the bases, and then threw a wild pitch which allowed a runner to score. He then surrendered another run, all without giving up a hit, as the Owls took a 2-0 lead into the fifth.
It didn’t take long for a UCF rally as Hicks and Beau Taylor singled to reach base and an error by pitcher Anthony Rendon allowed a run to score. Chris Taladay’s sac fly eventually brought another round to score, tying the game at 2-2. Ronnie Richardson then lined an RBI single to center, giving the away team its first lead of the night.
The Knights kept the Owls down the rest of the game and added four more runs in the ninth, paving way for Joe Rogers to come in and close out the game en route to earning his fourth save of the season.
Game Notes (provided by UCF Athletics):
UCF – 17-5 Overall, 1-0 C-USA
No. 23 Rice – 15-10 Overall, 0-1 C-USA
-Ben Lively’s eight walks in the game set a UCF record by an individual pitcher.
-With a 5-0 record, Lively is the first Knight since Ray Rodriguez and Darren Newlin (2005) to start a season 5-0.
-The three runs in the ninth were the most UCF had scored in that inning all season.
-Relief pitchers D.J. Hicks, Nick Cicio and Joe Rogers combined to toss the final 3.1 innings, giving up no runs on three hits and striking out two.
-The win was the third all-time for UCF on Rice’s home field.
-UCF did not commit an error for the 13th time.
-Game time was 3:22, marking the longest game for UCF this year.
-UCF turned a season-high four double plays.
