A light rain sprinkled throughout the afternoon as the UCF baseball team (19-5, 2-0 C-USA) claimed the series in just two games against conference rival, East Carolina (15-7, 0-2 C-USA), with a 10-6 victory Saturday night at Jay Bergman Field that extended the Knights winning streak to six games.
After the Knights pulled out a close 2-1 victory in a pitchers duel Friday night against the Pirates to open Conference-USA play, this afternoon was an arms race as both teams displayed their explosive line-ups as they traded the lead six times.
The Knights put up 16 hits, including three home runs. Alex Friedrich was a double away from the cycle as he went 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Chris Taladay and D.J. Hicks combined for five hits and three RBIs. Darnell Sweeney had three RBIs, scored twice and had two hits as well.
“Hitting is contagious, it feels great and when one guy gets a hit, you feel great going out there,” Ryan Breen said. “Once everyone started hitting it, it just kept going.”
Breen had his first home run of the season, going 3-for-3, scoring twice and contributing two runs batted in.
Knights reliever Chris Matulis stepped up in a big way when UCF starting pitcher Ben Lively had to take a seat after only one and tw0-thirds innings pitched, in addition to giving up four runs. Matulis struck out seven batters and allowed only one earned run over four and one-third innings pitched.
“Chris has really done a great job out of the pen for us; he’s consistently done very good. That’s what you talk about, the team picking each other up. Ben didn’t have his best stuff today, but Chris did a good job,” UCF head coach Terry Rooney said after the game.
In the bottom of the first, UCF batters loaded the bases on three straight singles with two outs, but were unable to capitalize after a Nick Carrillo pop-up ended the inning.
Drew Reynolds of ECU gave the Pirates an early lead on a right field chalk skimmer that allowed John Wooten to score all the way from first. Reynolds scored on a deep Ben Fultz sacrifice fly. An error on Sweeney allowed ECU to score once more.
The Knights committed two errors in the inning and the errors were the first two of the series.
The Knights and Pirates combined for five errors after a flawless game last night.
Lively walked two straight batters to load the bases and then surrendered another run. Coach Rooney wouldn’t see anymore, pulling Lively and giving the ball to LHP Chris Matulis, who got the Knights the final out they needed. The damage had been done, however, as the Pirates took an early four-run lead off of only three hits.
Breen responded with a clutch lead off single and Travis Shreve knocked a double up the middle to put a man at second and third. Sweeney split the shortstop gap with a bullet to bring home Breen and Shreve, who ignored the third base coaches stop signal.
Right on cue, D.J. Hicks stepped up to the plate and smacked his seventh home run of the season over the centerfield wall. Hicks leads the conference with 35 RBIs and is third in the nation with that mark. The Knights lineup responded swiftly and effectively to tie the game up at four after two innings.
In the top of the third inning, the umpires called a rain delay as a light drizzle turned into a full shower, causing fans to flee for cover.
After the short rain delay, UCF got back on the gas with a Breen RBI double to score Friedrich, taking a 5-4 lead after three innings.
The Pirates tied the game at 5-5 after a bases loaded fielders choice hit by Wooten scored a run. The inning featured a controversial call overturned after ECU coach Billy Godwin appealed on a close play at first, spurring a Coach Rooney reaming of the home plate and first base umpires.
The Pirates tacked on another run in the fifth when a close play at home allowed Tim Younger to score after jarring a ball loose from Breen’s glove at the plate.
Friedrich tied the game back up with a solo shot over the left field wall, and Breen reclaimed the lead for the Knights one out later with his first career homerun.
In the top of the seventh, Ronnie Richardson chased down a deep fly ball, turned and put a 300 foot throw on the dime to get the double play on the tag at third as third basemen Chris Taladay somersaulted over runner Zach Wright to just barely get the tag in time. The play received a thunderous ovation from the crowd.
Friedrich’s bat continued to glow red-hot with a triple off the wall to score Hicks for his fourth hit on four appearances on the night. The Knights led 8-6 with two frames left to play.
The Knights continued to build on their lead in the eighth with an RBI from Sweeney and Taladay to stretch the lead to 10-6. UCF relief pitcher Roman Madrid shut down the Pirates to seal the victory for the Knights.
The Knights will look to sweep the series tomorrow afternoon at one o’clock at The Berg as the UCF Knights continue to heat up and play top-notch ball.
