TALLAHASSEE – Florida A&M third baseman Alcides Segui lined a RBI-double in the ninth inning to give the Rattlers a 12-11 victory over UCF Wednesday afternoon at Moore-Kittles Field in Tallahassee. With the loss, UCF dropped to 16-8 on the year while FAMU improved to 11-9.
FAMU scored first with one run in the bottom of the second inning. Nick Parker hit a soft single through the right side to drive in the Rattlers’ first run of the contest.
UCF answered right back with five runs in the third to take a 5-1 lead. After Drew Butera and Jon Cooper singled to start the inning, both David Mann and P.J. Lehmann walked to force in a run. With the bases still loaded, Clay Timpner drilled a three-run double to left-center to clear the bases giving UCF a 4-1 advantage. Dee Brown tacked on UCF’s final run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to center to score Timpner.
In the fourth, Blaine Schulte launched his third home run of the season down the right field line to extend the Golden Knight lead to 6-1. Schulte leads the team with three home runs on the season.
FAMU scored four runs in the home half of the fourth inning to cut the lead to 6-5. The big blow in the inning was a three-run home run by Todd Rodman.
Matt Fox earned his first career start on the mound for the Golden Knights. The sophomore right-hander pitched a career-high 3.2 innings allowing five runs on six hits with five walks and three strikeouts.
In the UCF fifth, Ryan Bear delivered a RBI-single to pad the lead to 7-5. The single also extended Bear’s hitting streak to 14 consecutive games. The runs continued to roll in for UCF as Rich Wallace added a RBI-double and Schulte stroked a RBI-single to give UCF a 9-5 lead.
The high-scoring affair continued in the bottom of the fifth as FAMU scored six runs to take its first lead of the day at 11-9. FAMU had trailed 6-1 after 3.5 innings.
P.J. Lehmann cut the FAMU advantage to 11-10 with a RBI-single in the sixth to score Jon Cooper.
UCF evened the game at 11 apiece in the eighth. Timpner hustled down the line to beat out an infield single, which scored David Mann, to tie game at 11-11.
FAMU ended it in the home half of the ninth as Segui lined a double to left-center to score Morgan for the game-winning run.
UCF returns to action Friday, March 21 at Samford. The A-Sun contest begins at 7 p.m. EST.