ORLANDO -- Von David Stertzbach came in and shut down the Stetson offense for 5.1 innings, propelling UCF to a 14-5 victory. Stertzbach improved to 5-0 with another outstanding performance in long relief. He gave up one run on three hits while fanning nine Hatters.
In front of a season high 1,292 fans the Golden Knights convincingly disposed of their rivals, Stetson. UCF had 12 batters record an at bat in the game and all of them claimed at least one hit off the Hatter pitching staff, which was forced to use four different arms. The Knights tallied 19 total hits in the game, while Rich Wallace led the way with three.
Mark Michael exited the game, when he ran into trouble in the fourth, surrendering three runs on four hits and leaving the bases loaded. Stertzbach got Stetson’s ninth batter of the inning to pop the ball up to the short stop, putting an end to the bleeding and leaving the Knights down 3-0.
UCF came storming back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs of its own, with four consecutive hits to start the inning. Jeremy Frost had an RBI double to knock in the Knights first run and Clay Timpner followed with an RBI single to right. The Knights did strand two more base runners in the inning, making the total seven through three innings of play. They ended the game with 13 men left one and Stetson stranded 11, helping the game to almost four hours.
UCF’s last out of the inning came on a spectacular play by Joe Kurelic in left field. Kurelic made the catch, and managed to hold on after a hard collision with short stop Rusty Beale, which caused almost a 25 minute delay as Kurelic had to receive medical attention for a gash under his eye and a possible concussion. Beale also went to the hospital with a bruised hip. Once play had resumed Stertzbach went to the mound and handled business, keeping the Hatters scoreless.
Stetson was not as fortunate and the Knights chased Roger Lincoln (8-3) from the game after taking the lead in the fourth. Mike Myers singled up the middle and David Mann slid under the tag to tie the game. Myers advanced on the throw and ended up on third after a balk. Dee Brown hit a ball that was not fielded cleanly and Myers scampered home on the error with the go ahead run. Adam Miller added one more with a slow roller to second that scored Brown.
Andy Wilson brought the Hatters back within one as he parked their fifth hit of the game on the other side of the fence in left-center field. Wilson’s shot was his 10th of the year, giving Stetson three players with double-digit home runs on the season.
The Golden Knights broke the game open in the sixth inning with six runs to make the score 11-4. UCF used four hits and received a little help from the Stetson defense who committed two errors. Ty Hanson scored the last run of the inning on a wild pitch and he also had a two RBI single along with Jason Graham. Miller brought in the first run of the inning when he was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded. They added to the lead with three in the seventh and Stetson added one in the ninth to complete the evenings scoring.
Stetson’s Andy Wilson had three hits on the night with two RBI’s and two runs scored. Jeremy Frost joined Wilson with a long ball of his own, while driving in two and scoring once.
UCF and Stetson will play two more on Sunday, April 28 at Jay Bergman Field. The First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. UCF will be looking to stay ahead of Stetson in the Atlantic Sun standings and earn its head coach his 1000th win. Bergman is one shy of becoming the 25th coach in NCAA history to reach that mark.
