ORLANDO -- Dee Brown continued to swing a hot bat for UCF Saturday afternoon in the Knights split with Samford. UCF won a battle at the plate in the first game, scoring 12 runs to Samford’s 9 and dropped the second game in nine innings 2-0. Brown was 5-for-8 on day with three RBI’s, two runs scored and a stolen base.
Senior Jeremy Frost was also a big factor in UCF’s win. Frost was 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBI’s and two runs scored while swiping two bases. UCF came out firing on all cylinders posting all twelve of its runs in the first four innings. The Knights broke out in the first with five, high-lighted by a two RBI single to left center by Frost. One more came across in the second and the floodgates were opened again in the third with four more runs going on the scoreboard. Brown had the big blow in the third, when he welcomed Samford reliever, Travis Crossland with a two RBI single through the left side of the infield.
The Bulldogs bit into what seemed to be a comfortable lead in the top of the fourth with five runs. Samford ruined Von David Stertzbach’s first start of the year has he was yanked with two outs, one on and five runs across for Nick Whidden. Whidden got the third out with the bases loaded, but was unable to get out of the fifth. UCF used three pitchers, struggling through 1.1 innings of play, giving Sanford a legitimate shot with two innings left and the score 12-9.
Zach Sutton put an end to that, earning his second win in as many games with two scoreless innings of one hit ball. Sutton fanned three in the process, ending a two hour and forty-nine minute, seven-inning game.
The Bulldogs also struggled on the mound, using four pitchers. Cory Sumner, Major Allred, Eli Iorg and Joe Denson produced at the plate with two hits each while Robert Evans drove in three of the team’s nine runs.
Game two of the double header was the total opposite of game one, with Lincoln Mincks and Alan Bryan battling it out on the mound. Mincks ended up the hard-luck loser, throwing 8.1 innings of seven hit baseball. After retiring the first batter of the ninth, on a spectacular diving catch by Nathan Kragt at third base, Mincks surrendered a single through the left side. That was Mincks 107th pitch and his last as Bo Hall replaced him on the mound. Hall struck out the first batter but the ball was dropped and Frost bounced it off the runner’s back as he ran down the first base line, putting men on first and second. The next batter hit the 0-2 pitch into left field for a single scoring the games first run. Samford added an insurance run, which they would not need as UCF could not getting anything going in their half of the inning. A line drive double play ended the game, giving the combination if Bryan and Robert Evans a nine inning shut out over UCF.
Brown, Ty Hanson and Adam Miller each contributed with two hits, but the Knights were not successful, despite out hitting Samford 11-9. UCF left eight men on base and had four innings end with a man standing in scoring position at second.
The Golden Knights are now 19-13 overall with a 7-2 record in the Atlantic Sun. UCF will be in action once again on Tuesday, April 2, when it travels across the state to take on the South Florida Bulls. The first pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 7:00 p.m.
UCF Splits Double Header With Samford
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