Feb. 22, 2005
DAYTONA BEACH - UCF head coach Jay Bergman moved into a tie for 21st place in NCAA history with his 1,099th career victory Tuesday evening as the Golden Knights defeated Bethune-Cookman 6-5. Bergman is now tied with former Arizona State head coach Jim Brock for 21st place in NCAA history with 1,099 victories.
With the win, UCF raised its record to 8-2 overall while the Wildcats dropped to 1-10.
Ray Rodriguez (2-0) pitched well in his second career start for the Golden Knights to earn the win. The junior right-hander lasted 6.0 innings and struck out a career-high seven on the night. Rodriguez limited B-CC to three runs, two earned, on five hits.
Derek Abriola pitched the final 1.2 innings to earn his first career save.
UCF captured the lead in the first inning with a two-out rally to take a 1-0 lead. Matt Horwath started the action with a single to left-center, stole second and later scored on a RBI-single by Ryan Bono through the right side.
The Wildcats answered quickly in the first inning with one run of their own. Bobby Gilbert doubled down the line in right field to score Carlos Picornell from first base to tie the game at one. Picornell led off for the Wildcats and was hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count by UCF starter Ray Rodriguez.
UCF regained the lead in the second with a sacrifice fly by Courtney Propst to score Chandler Rose. Rose and Marshall Bernhard started the inning with back-to-back singles before advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt by Justin Mahon. The Golden Knights padded the lead to 3-1 with their second two-out RBI of the night on a Matt Ray RBI-single through the right side to score Bernhard.
UCF put its first two runners on in the fourth when Bernhard laid down a perfect bunt single and Mahon reached base via catcher's interference. After a sacrifice bunt by Courtney Propst, Ray drove in his second run of the game on with a sacrifice fly to score Bernhard, giving the Golden Knights a 4-1 lead.
B-CC sliced the lead to 4-2 in the fourth inning on a RBI-single by Jon Roberts. The Wildcats continued to chip away at the lead as Randall Vickroy singled to left field to cut the UCF lead to 4-3 in the fourth.
The Golden Knights used another clutch, two-out RBI in the fifth as Rose singled down the right field line to score Bono, increasing the lead to 5-3.
Bono collected his second hit and RBI on the night in the sixth in a perfectly executed hit-and-run to score Ray from second base. Dee Brown also advanced from first to third on the play as the Golden Knights pushed the lead to 6-3.
The Wildcats battled back with one run in the eighth on a RBI-triple by Ryan Ghianda to close the lead to 6-4. Later in the inning, Roberts added his second RBI of the game with a single up the middle to bring the Wildcats to within a run at 6-5.
Game Notes: With a single in the first inning, Ryan Bono extended his hitting streak to seven games ... UCF has won six straight games in the series vs. Bethune-Cookman, including five consecutive victories at Jackie Robinson Ballpark ... the Golden Knights are 57-13 all-time vs. Bethune-Cookman ... UCF is 5-0 vs. Florida schools in 2005 ... UCF has outscored the opposition 6-0 in both the second and fifth innings this season ... UCF played its first road game of the season Tuesday at B-CC after playing its first nine games of the year at Jay Bergman Field ... the nine-game homestand was the longest to start a season in Division I history for the Golden Knights ... UCF stole four bases in the game, giving the team 25 stolen bases in 30 attempts in 2005 ... the Golden Knights have left 31 runners on base in their last three games ... UCF is 4-0 in one-run games.