UCF gave a strong effort but lost to Alabama 5-3 in day one of the Tallahassee Regional in the NCAA Tournament.
UCF head coach Terry Rooney said after the game “I thought our guys battled all the way through. Certainly any coach will tell you all you want when you get to that last inning is to get that tying or winning run to the plate and we did. That has kind of been the hallmark of our team the entire year, just battling all the way to the very end and I was very proud of our guy’s effort out there.”
UCF did not get a leadoff batter on base for the entire game but Ronnie Richardson was 2 for 5 at bat with one solo home run and one RBI. Darnell Sweeney was 2 for 3 and ran one in along with Erik Hempe.
This game also ended Beau Taylor’s 15 game hitting streak.
With this loss, UCF is now in the losing bracket and will face the loser of the Bethune Cookman vs Florida State match on Saturday.
If UCF plays FSU on Saturday, the game will be televised on SUN Sports and a live video feed will be on NCAA.com. If they play Cookman the game will not be televised or online.
Scoring Recap:
Alabama started off in the 2nd with a double from Josh Rosecrans then he scored from a ground out to 1st base by Miller. Rosecrans also scored in the top of the 4th from a hit by Sanders.
In the bottom of the 4th, Travis Shreve of UCF slid in to first base with Ryan Breen on 2nd and Erik Hempe on 3rd setting up Sweeney at bat. With 3 balls and 1 strike Alabama pitcher Nathan Kilcrease walked Sweeney giving UCF their first run with Hempe walking in catching up to Bama 2-1.
Jared Reaves of the Tide scored a run after hitting a double with help from Austen Smith’s single in to left field for Alabama leaving UCF behind by 2 again in the 5th. 3-2 Alabama.
The Tide score again with Brandt Hendricks running in from 2nd base after Taylor Dugas hit a double down the left line in the 6th taking Alabama up 4-1.
UCF pitcher Johnny Sedlock came in to replace Brian Adkins in the 7th inning and started strong striking out Alabama’s Jared Reaves but Austen Smith hit a home run in to right center field. UCF trailed 5-1.
Finishing off the 7th inning, Ronnie Richardson hit a solo home run deep in to right field giving UCF their 56th home run of the season bringing UCF closer to the Tides lead 5-2.
Griffin of UCF hit his 17th double in to right field then made it to third with a ground out by Luciano but Hempe popped one up making it an easy catch.
Sweeney scored in the bottom of the 9th after hitting a triple in to right field and Richardson hit a single but Alabama won 5-3.
