DELAND, Fla.- UCF third baseman Ty Hanson went 4-for-5 with two RBIs while Mike Myers finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs to lead the Golden Knights to a 12-4 victory over Troy State Thursday at the 2002 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship. The win was UCF’s eighth-straight as the Knights improved to 38-20, while Troy State’s season was ended after completing the year with a 28-30 mark.
UCF starter Bo Hall tossed 6.0 innings and collected four strikeouts to raise his record to a perfect 9-0 on the year. Troy State starter Eric Wikstrom pitched 6.1 innings and allowed six runs on 11 hits to fall to 5-4.
With the win, UCF will play the winner of the Stetson-FAU game Friday morning at 11 a.m.
In the UCF first, Clay Timpner got the Knights going with a two-out RBI double to the gap in right center to score Dee Brown to give UCF a 1-0 lead.
The Trojans tied the contest in the fourth inning on one swing when Wade Miller launched his 10th home run of the season over the fence in right field. The hit was the first of the game for Troy State after Hall did not allow a hit over the first three innings.
Still in the fourth, Troy State broke the 1-1 tie when Casey O’Quinn singled to left field to score Brian Lipman to give the Trojans a 2-1 lead. The second run for TSU was unearned as Lipman reached base via a throwing error by Hanson.
The Knights came right back in the fifth with one run to tie the game again, this time at two. Myers delivered with a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Bear. Bear singled earlier in the inning and advanced to second when Wikstrom committed a throwing error.
UCF scored four runs in the top of the seventh to break the tie. With the bases loaded, Wikstrom uncorked a wild pitch to score David Mann. After a walk to Timpner, Hanson drilled a two-run single up the middle to bring home Myers and Timpner to give the Knights a 5-2 lead. Adam Miller then singled up the middle with two outs to score Hanson to give UCF a 6-2 lead. Hanson reached second base on a balk by Troy State reliever Mal Winters.
With the four runs in the seventh, UCF has scored 10 runs in the seventh inning in two games at the A-Sun tournament.
Troy State threatened to have a big inning in the bottom of the seventh as the first three Trojans singled to start the inning, but Von David Stertzbach bailed out Hall. Stertzbach allowed just one hit while racking up two strikeouts. The only hit Stertzbach surrendered was a RBI single by Wade Miller to bring the Trojans to within three at 6-3.
A two-out walk to Myers in the UCF eighth proved to be costly for Troy State as Myers scored on a single by Brown that reached the gap to give the Knights a 7-3 lead. Brown was thrown out at second on the play when he tried to stretch the hit into a double.
The Knights continued their late-inning attack in the ninth as UCF busted the game open with five runs in the ninth to increase the score to 12-3. Myers continued his excellent play in the tournament as he belted a three-run double in the inning to highlight the Knights’ ninth.
Troy State did score one run on two hits in the bottom of the ninth to close out the scoring at 12-4.