ORLANDO – Ryan Bear finished 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI in two games to lead UCF to a doubleheader sweep of Monmouth Saturday at Jay Bergman Field. The Golden Knights won the opener 5-2 and finished the doubleheader with a 7-3 victory over the Hawks. With the pair of wins, UCF improved to 8-4 on the year while Monmouth fell to 0-3.
After Monmouth’s Frank Pilitowski hit a two-run home run in the third inning, the Golden Knights scored one run in the third, two in the sixth and a run each in the seventh and eighth for the win. Bear finished the first game with two doubles and a pair of RBI. UCF pounded out 10 hits as a team including two from freshman Jon Cooper, who was a last-minute replacement for Rich Wallace in the UCF lineup. Wallace was ill and did not play in the doubleheader.
UCF starter Mark Michael (2-0) pitched 7.0 innings for the win. Michael allowed just two runs on five hits with a season-high seven strikeouts.
In the second game, Bear got UCF rolling right away with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give UCF a 3-0 lead. The Golden Knights put the game away with three more runs in the second, with two coming on Blaine Schulte’s inside the park home run. Schulte drilled a ball into the corner in right, and Monmouth right fielder Jeff Panzarella missed the ball and crashed into the wall to allow Schulte to come all the way around to score.
Schulte leads UCF with two home runs on the year.
UCF added a run in the fourth to extend the lead to 7-1 before Monmouth scored twice in the ninth to close out the scoring at 7-3.
Clay Timpner added three hits in the second game and scored two runs for the victors.
On the mound, Lincoln Mincks tossed 6.0 innings and struck out seven to improve to 3-1 on the year. The Iowa native allowed just one run on six hits to earn his team-leading third win of the year.
The UCF pitching staff recorded 22 strikeouts over the two-game doubleheader Saturday and 38 strikeouts through three games in the series.
UCF looks to close out the four-game sweep Sunday at noon.
Game Note: Senior Nathan Kragt tied a school-record as he was hit by a pitch twice in both games of the doubleheader. Kragt was hit in four consecutive at-bats. He was plunked in his final two at-bats in game one and his first two at-bats in game two.