The UCF baseball team did something it had never been able to do before: it took a series from Conference USA and college baseball powerhouse Rice.
Behind Joe Rodgers perfect ninth inning and four hits from Jonathan Griffin, the Knights (18-6 overall, 2-1 in C-USA) took down Rice 5-4 on Sunday and, with a series-opening 7-2 win on Friday, record their first-ever series victory over Rice in program history. It was also the first time UCF won it’s opening C-USA series of a season since 2006, when they took two of three against Marshall to open conference play.
“That was a tremendous team effort for the entire weekend,” head coach Terry Rooney said in a release. “We call every Sunday ‘Championship Sunday.’ Regardless of the first two days, Sunday is always the most important game of the series. For today’s game, all you have to do is look at the back-and-forth of the score, and then to see us hold on late on the road certainly speaks volumes about the confidence and presence of our team.”
Brian Adkins pitched three innings of scoreless ball in relief, allowing no runs and striking out one batter. He picked up his fourth win of the season. Adkins helped the Knights out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning, limiting the Rice lead and allowing the Knights to fight back.
“Basically I was just trying to fill up the zone and once again the defense played great behind me,” Adkins said in a release. “My mindset was a little bit different coming out of the pen. But in each individual inning I was trying to close out the game. Each inning was its own entity for me, so I was just trying to go hitter by hitter.”
In addition to Griffin’s three hits, Ronnie Richardson reached base four times, including two hits, and D.J. Hicks and Erik Hempe also racked up two hits a piece.
Rodgers came into the game in relief in the seventh and helped preserve the UCF lead, including striking out the meat of the lineup in the bottom of the ninth to secure the victory.
“I was mentally prepared in the bullpen when I saw how well Brian pitched,” Rogers said in a release. “It was cool how (facing possible No. 1 MLB pick Anthony Rendon in the ninth) was drawn up. I wanted to go after Rendon because he is potentially a high-draft pick, so I threw him a two-seamer and I guess it just tailed on him and he hit it to Darnell Sweeney at short. He made a great play to end it. And Beau Taylor did an excellent job behind the plate for me.”
The Knights will face another tough test Tuesday, as they take on 20-5 Stetson at home.
