The Knights lost a close game in Gainesville Tuesday night, falling to the Gators 3-5 in the team’s second meeting of the year. Reliever Chris Matulis was charged with the loss, though he was on the bump for less than a full inning and didn’t give up an earned run.
Jeramy Matos put the first run of the game on the board in the second inning with a line shot to left field, bringing home Parker Webster from second base. A string of solid at bats and shaky pitching from the Gators led to a second run when Jamarcos Woods drew a walk with the bases loaded.
Florida got things rolling in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runs of their own, tying the game and spelling the end of starter Eric Skoglund’s night. The southpaw gave up two earned runs and a walk while striking out one batter over 5.1 innings.
Woods added his second RBI of the night the next inning with a sharp ground ball to shortstop that allowed Tommy Williams to score after he scorched a double down the left field line.
UCF did not fall behind until the bottom of the seventh, when a Chris Taladay error allowed the tying run to score from third and put runners on the corners for the Gators. UF was unable to bring in either runner with their bats, but capitalized on a wild pitch by Spencer Davis to take the lead 4-3.
With only six outs to work with the Knights were unable to produce any runs in the eighth or ninth inning, only managing to put one runner on when Taladay walked in the eighth.
This is the last time UCF will play Florida this season, leaving the series at 0-2. UCF continues its April road trip 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Memphis, who is 2-4 within Conference USA.
