BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Sophomore pitcher Taylor Cobb (Jacksonville, Fla./Bolles) tossed a career-high 7.0 innings and UCF scored 11 unanswered runs as the Golden Knights topped Samford 11-3 Friday evening in Birmingham, Ala. The Golden Knights captured their second Atlantic Sun win of the season to improve to 2-2 in the conference and 17-8 overall. Samford dropped to 2-8 in the conference and 5-17 overall.
Cobb (3-1) had a strong showing for the victors. The Jacksonville native limited the Bulldogs to just two earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts to improve to 3-1.
Samford scored three runs in the first inning to take an early 3-0 lead. Sae Evans started things with a RBI-single to score Matt Alling. Alling’s run was unearned as he got on base via an error by UCF shortstop Jon Cooper. Later in the frame, Justin Klinger drove in two runs with a double down the left field line giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 advantage.
UCF scored a run in the second to cut the lead to 3-1. Drew Butera (Lake Mary, Fla./Bishop Moore) singled through the right side to score Blaine Schulte (Oviedo, Fla./Oviedo) for UCF’s first run of the night.
The Golden Knights closed to within a run at 3-2 in the fourth inning when Ryan Bear (Panama City, Fla./Gulf Coast CC) scampered home on a wild pitch.
UCF exploded for five runs in the sixth inning to go in front 7-3. With the bases loaded, Dee Brown (Brooksville, Fla./Hernando) drove in two runs with a single to right-center to give UCF its first lead of the night at 4-3. Rich Wallace (Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore) followed Brown with a three-run home run to straight away center field to pad the lead to 7-3. The long ball for Wallace was his second of the season.
UCF continued to pound the Samford pitching staff with one run in the eighth and three in the ninth to close out the scoring.
Wallace led UCF with three RBI while Bear finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Brown finished 2-for-5 with three RBI for the victors.
The two teams will finish the three-game series Saturday with two, seven-inning games. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST.
