ORLANDO – Dee Brown tied a career-high with four hits as No. 19 UCF rolled past Bethune-Cookman 9-1 Tuesday evening at Jay Bergman Field. The Golden Knights won for the 18th time in 19 games to improve to 28-5 overall while the Wildcats dropped to 20-15. UCF swept the season series 4-0 from Bethune-Cookman for the first time since 1999.
UCF’s nine runs on 11 hits was more than enough for freshman starter Taylor Meier. The Altamonte Springs native was sensational, limiting Bethune-Cookman to one unearned run on three hits with six strikeouts in a career-high 8.0 innings of work. Meier (4-0) improved to a perfect 4-0 with the win.
UCF scored eight of its nine runs in just two innings. The Golden Knights used a three-run third and a five-run eighth to put the game away.
Brown led the way with a 4-for-5 night including a RBI-double while Drew Butera was 2-for-3 with a solo home run and three runs scored.
Clay Timpner was 1-for-3 with two RBI and three stolen bases. Timpner leads the conference with 30 stolen bases and he also moved into a tie for eighth place on the single-season steals chart at UCF. Timpner is tied with Reggie Arrington, who stole 30 bags during the 1981 campaign.
Jaime Douglas pitched a 1-2-3 ninth in impressive fashion as he struck out the side. Douglas threw just 14 pitches, including 13 strikes.
The Golden Knights are back in action this weekend for a key three-game series at No. 24 Florida Atlantic. The three-game series starts Friday at 7 p.m. in Boca Raton.