Feb. 11, 2005
ORLANDO - UCF junior pitcher Ray Rodriguez struck out five batters in 7.0 innings to lead the Golden Knights to a 10-3 victory over Le Moyne Friday evening at Jay Bergman Field. Rodriguez allowed three unearned runs in his first career start en route to the win. The junior right-hander was in command all night long, holding Le Moyne to just three hits.
With the win, UCF moved to 5-0 on the year, its best start since 1996. Le Moyne fell to 0-2 on the year with the loss.
The Golden Knights handed Rodriguez an early 2-0 lead after Ryan Bono had a RBI-double in the first inning and Drew Butera added a RBI-single in the two-run frame.
In the second, Marshall Bernhard added a run with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-0.
Le Moyne tied the score at three on one swing in the third on a three-run home run by Keith Connors. The three-run home run came with two outs in the inning after UCF committed an error earlier in the inning, leading to the three unearned runs.
Rodriguez and two UCF relievers held Le Moyne scoreless the rest of the way as the Golden Knights added seven unanswered runs en route to the win.
A four-run fourth inning featured a three-run triple by Bernhard with the bases loaded to extend the lead to 7-3.
Bono collected UCF's second bases loaded hit of the night with a three-run double in the sixth to close out the scoring at 10-3. Bono finished the game 2-for-4 with four RBI. Bernhard also added four RBI as UCF totaled 10 hits.
UCF looks for the three-game sweep Saturday afternoon at noon. Sophomore Tim Bascom gets the start for UCF.