No. 23 UCF Sweeps JU 10-4, 10-9

JACKSONVILLE – Kyle Bono tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts in game one and Dee Brown drove in six runs in game two to lead No. 23 UCF to a doubleheader sweep of Jacksonville Saturday afternoon at Alexander Brest Field in Jacksonville. The Golden Knights won game one 10-4 and completed the doubleheader sweep with a 10-9 win in game two to improve to 26-5 overall and 12-2 in the A-Sun.

In game one, Bono (5-0) was dominant in allowing just two hits and one earned run en route to his fifth win of the season. In game two, Brown was 3-for-4 with the go-ahead three-run home run to propel UCF to the victory.

UCF used a two-out rally in the first inning to score two runs. Dee Brown doubled down the right field line and Ryan Bono and Dave Lambert walked before Chandler Rose drove in two runs with a single to center to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead.

Two Jacksonville errors led to four UCF runs in the top of the third as the Golden Knights extended their lead to 6-0. Marshall Bernhard drove in the third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right field and Matt LaFleur followed with a RBI-single to left to give UCF a 4-0 advantage. Drake Wade extended the lead to 6-0 as he doubled to the wall in left-center to bring home Rose and LaFleur.

In the UCF fourth, a RBI-double to the left-center gap by Bono drove in Brown from first base for the Golden Knights’ seventh run of the contest. Bernhard added his second RBI of the game with a single to center to bring home Bono and give the Golden Knights an 8-0 lead. Bono set a career-high with four runs scored.

Jacksonville ended Bono’s impressive streak of 25.2 innings of scoreless baseball with a solo home run off the bat of Logan James in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 8-1. The home run was also the first earned run yielded by Bono since Feb. 21 vs. Utah (38 innings).

Two more Jacksonville errors led to two UCF unearned runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 10-1.

A wild seventh inning for the Dolphins saw JU score three runs on three hits and two UCF errors to close out the scoring at 10-4.

In game two, Clay Timpner led the game off with a long home run to right field for his second home run of the season. Timpner became the first UCF player to leadoff a game with a home run since Mike Myers drilled a leadoff home run at Jacksonville on May 19, 2001.

UCF took advantage of the long ball again in the second as LaFleur hit his second home run of the season with a homer to left-center to extend the lead to 3-0. The two-run home run was also the second time this season UCF has hit two homers in a game. The last time was vs. Wagner on March 17.

Jacksonville’s Clint Hart was hit by a pitch and stole two bases to score the Dolphins’ first run of the game in the bottom of the second.

UCF came right back with three runs of their own in the third inning to extend the lead to 6-1. Timpner started the inning with a double, Matt Ray laid down a perfect bunt single and Brown drove both players in with a two-run double down the left field line. After two walks loaded the bases, LaFleur drove in his career-high third run of the game with a walk to give UCF a 6-1 lead.

The Golden Knights shelled Jacksonville starting pitcher Brett Nagy. In just 2.2 innings, Nagy yielded all six runs on seven hits. UCF has been at its best early in the game in 2004, with the Golden Knights outscoring the opposition 95-24 through the first three innings in 2004.

JU finally busted loose with a six-run fifth inning to take a 7-6 lead. The Dolphins started the inning with three consecutive singles including a RBI-single off the bat of Chris Kelly to cut the lead to 6-2. With two outs in the inning, Donald Brickle delivered with a two-run single up the middle to bring JU to within two at 6-4.

Tim Bascom came in of relief of Brooks and allowed a walk and three-run double to Hart to give the Dolphins their first lead of the game at 7-6.

UCF responded with a big, three-run inning in the sixth to regain the lead at 9-7. Brown came up with the big hit in the inning with a three-run home run to center field to put the Golden Knights in front at 9-7. The three home run game for the UCF offense marked the first time since Feb. 17, 2001 vs. Purdue that a UCF team has hit at least three home runs in a game. The Golden Knights smacked five homers vs. the Boilermakers.

Brown drove in his sixth run of the game in the seventh with a sacrifice fly to push the UCF lead to 10-7.

Jacksonville scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh as Sean McHugh drove in two runs with a double to right-center, but he was thrown at third base for the second out of the inning. Tim Bascom (4-2) got an outstanding defensive play by Ray to end the game as Ray fielded a rocket to preserve the win.