ORLANDO -- UCF baseball reached the 1,000 win plateau Friday evening when it defeated conference foe Troy State 17-7 in a game which saw the Knights make it two consecutive games with twenty or more hits. The Knights added 24 to the 20 they posted the day before to give them a total of 44 hits and 34 runs in their last two games.
David Mann took full advantage of the starting spot in the line-up as the DH. Mann went 4-for-4 on the evening with four singles and two RBI’s.
Ty Hanson continued his hot hitting reaching base four times. Hanson singled in his first four at bats, giving him nine consecutive at bats with a hit. He was 5-for-5 the day before against Long Island University. The streak was cut short when he hit into a fielder’s choice in the seventh inning. Hanson’s numbers over the last two days are 9-for-10 with two RBI’s and six runs scored, while improving his batting average to .375.
Troy State jumped out to the early lead in the first inning posting three runs on five hits. UCF starter Paul Lubrano was knocked out of the game in the third inning. Lubrano gave up a lead-off homerun to Chad Howard to make the score 4-0, got the next two men out and then gave up a single and walk before Von David Stertzbach came in.
Stertzbach pitched a great 5.1 innings of relief, giving up three runs, two earned on seven hits, while striking out six. Stertzbach earned his second win on the season to run his record to 2-0.
UCF was held scoreless in the first two innings and proceeded to put up runs in every inning after. The Knights broke out in the eighth inning when they took a 9-5 lead and made it 15-5 with a six run out-burst. Amongst the Knights 24 hits was a double by Rich Wallace. The power was provided by Wayne Summers with a two run homerun over the right field wall in the eighth and a opposite-field solo blast by Clay Timpner to lead off the fifth inning. That was Summers first of the year and Timpner’s team leading fourth.
UCF are now 1-0 in Atlantic sun play and will continue its conference schedule Saturday, March 16, when they take on Troy State in a double header at Jay Bergman Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Throwing in the first game will be Mark Michael for the Knights and Justin Eason for the Trojans. Game two will see Lincoln Mincks (UCF) and Marcus Bell (TSU) on the mound.
