Friday and Saturday’s win set the scene for the Knights for their soon-to-be Sunday victory in this weekend’s perfect series.
UCF welcomed the Connecticut team with an 11-1 blowout Friday evening, going unanswered for the majority of the game. Fairfield responded by holding the Knights back to a 1 run victory Saturday afternoon.
The winless Stags earned a lead Sunday afternoon at the top of second after three singles and a run. Fairfield continued with another run after UCF catcher Jordan Savinon dropped a throw to home. Fairfield’s Sebastian Salvo finished the scoring run with 3 RBI’s on his double to left field, bringing the score to 0-5.
What seemed like a game-decider turned into just another frame when UCF found their rhythm at the bottom of the second, earning 7 runs. Dylan Moore began the streak with 2 RBI’s, followed by an RBI from Tommy Williams. With two Knights on base, Matt Diorio turned over the lead on a home run hit to deep right, improving the score to 6-5. UCF’s Jordan Savinon ended the inning with a run after getting on base with his single to right field.
The bottom of the third saw Dylan Moore slide in to third after a triple hit off the wall. Derrick Salberg soon joined Moore by stealing second while Tommy Williams took to first after a stocked ball count from Fairfield. Senior James Vasquez stepped up at-bat with bases loaded, going 1-0 at the plate, then crushing a pitch by the Stags to deep right for a grand-slam. The season’s second grand-slam earned the Knights a score of 12-5 by the inning’s end.
“The wind was blowing out and I knew he didn’t have command with his off-speed, I was looking for a fastball to just hit hard and it went out,” said Vasquez on his hit.
Dylan Moore stole the fourth inning with his two steals to second base, then third. Tommy Williams would single to center field and quickly advance to second during a throw by the Stags. Williams then gained an RBI after a dropped pop fly out in the field.
Matt Diorio made his 3rd run of the day in the fifth, tying Moore with his 3 runs. A single hit by JoMarcos Woods up the middle gave Vasquez and Savinon a chance to take home and tally an improvement of 3 runs for the inning. Fairfield mirrored the Knights in the next set, also earning 3 runs. The next six frames only saw one run, by Fairfield, before the game’s end.
“The guys got it done, they did a terrific job,” said head coach Terry Rooney. “Our offense has been outstanding… The theme over this weekend was to see how mature we are, and I thought that we did that this week, I was impressed with that. I told the guys that we’re not going to practice tomorrow, we’re going to be a mature team and get some rest and regroup and get ready to go on Tuesday (against Bethune-Cookman).”
The 16-10 win by UCF (17-4) makes a perfect weekend series as well as a continued losing streak for Fairfield (0-8).
UCF’s next game will be a single game set at Bethune-Cookman at 6 p.m.
