MIAMI - UCF sophomore Drew Butera finished 3-for-5 including the game-winning RBI in the top of the ninth inning to propel UCF to a 6-2 victory over Florida International Sunday in Miami. The Golden Knights erased a 6-2 deficit with five shutout innings from their bullpen to improve to 2-0 on the year while FIU dropped to 1-4.
Freshman pitcher Tim Bascom was dominant, pitching the final two innings without allowing a hit with two strikeouts for his first collegiate victory. The loss was credited to FIU’s Derek DeCarlo, who was 17-0 in his career entering the contest.
The Golden Knights got on the scoreboard first with one run in the second. Marshall Bernhard got things started with a two-out, RBI-single to left field to score Butera, giving the Knights a 1-0 lead.
Florida International answered with one swing in the home half of the second as Adrian Casanova hit a two-run home run to right field to give the Golden Panthers a 2-1 lead. FIU continued its two-out rally as Luis Rivera sliced a single to center field, giving FIU a 3-1 advantage.
Dee Brown drove in his second run in as many games in the third inning with a RBI-single to left field to score Chandler Rose, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Florida International used just one hit to score three runs in the fourth to extend its lead to 6-2. The Golden Panthers took advantage of two UCF errors, a hit batsman, and a walk to lead to the three-run outburst.
UCF got three runs back via an error in the fifth when FIU first baseman Michael Lopez committed an error on a Clay Timpner ground ball, to score Ryan Bono. Bono started the UCF rally with a pinch-hit single to center field. The two-out error proved costly for the Golden Panthers, as Butera followed drilled a RBI-single to right field to cut the lead to 6-4. FIU pitcher Andrew Edwards then uncorked a wild pitch to the next batter, scoring Timpner, to cut the lead to 6-5.
The Golden Knights tied the game in the sixth inning when David Mann laced a RBI-single to left, scoring Dave Lambert, to even the score at six.
UCF finally came all the way back from a 6-2 deficit in the ninth inning when Butera drilled a RBI-single to center, scoring Brown. Brown reached base to start the inning on an error by P.J. Lehmann, who transferred to FIU from UCF after the 2003 season. Dave Lambert added a key insurance run with a two-out, RBI-single through the left side to plate Butera, giving UCF an 8-6 lead.
Butera scored two runs and drove in a pair while Marshall Bernhard and Chandler Rose each finished with two hits each.
The Golden Knights return to action next weekend at home vs. No. 2 LSU. The three-game series vs. the Tigers begins Friday at 6 p.m. at Jay Bergman Field. For ticket information, please call the UCF ticket office at 407-823-GOLD.
Baseball Sweeps FIU With 8-6 Win
Share