Feb. 25, 2005
ORLANDO - UCF head coach Jay Bergman captured his 1,100 victory as a head coach as the 26th-ranked Golden Knights defeated Monmouth 4-1 Friday evening at Jay Bergman Field. The victory places Bergman into sole possession of 21st place in NCAA history in all-time coaching victories, moving past former Arizona State head coach Jim Brock (1972-94) in the NCAA annals.
"I am very happy and elated to reach the milestone, but it is all a reflection of having good players and assistant coaches," stated UCF head coach Jay Bergman. "I have been very fortunate my whole life to be surrounded by good people and good players."
With the win, UCF improved to 9-2 on the season while Monmouth (0-1) lost its first game of the season. The Golden Knights are off to their best start since 1996, when UCF opened the season 15-2.
Senior right-hander Darren Newlin moved to 3-0 with his third straight quality start in 2005. Newlin worked 6.0 innings and allowed one run on six hits with five strikeouts. Junior right-hander Dominic Petracca came out of the bullpen to shutdown Monmouth over the final 3.0 innings to earn his first collegiate save. Petracca fanned a career-high five and allowed just one hit on the night.
"I thought Darren pitched very well and Dominic had his best outing of the year," added Bergman. "We needed it from him because we need someone in middle relief and at the end of the game to close it out."
Nick Massari put the Hawks up 1-0 in the first with a solo home run to right off Newlin. From that point on, Newlin was in command, holding the Hawks scoreless the rest of the way.
The UCF offense scored single runs in the second, third, fourth and eighth innings to mount all of the offense Newlin and Petracca would need.
UCF tied the game at one in the second on a two-out, RBI-double to the gap in left-center by Drew Butera. Butera led UCF on the night with two hits.
In the third, Justin Mahon started the inning with a triple to right-center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Courtney Propst.
In the fourth, another leadoff triple, this time by Dee Brown, led to a RBI-groundout by Ryan Bono to increase the lead to 3-1.
Propst added a key insurance run in the eighth with a two-out, RBI-single to left to close out the scoring at 4-1.
Due to the possibility of inclement weather Sunday, UCF and Monmouth will play a day-night doubleheader Saturday, February 26 to close out the three-game series.
Saturday's first game is set to begin at 1 p.m. with the second game of the day slated to start at 6 p.m. Fans who have purchased tickets for Sunday's game can use those tickets at Saturday's game starting at 6 p.m.
Game Notes: UCF improved to 10-0 all-time vs. Monmouth with the win ... UCF is 2-2 when the opponent scores first in a game ... Newlin raised his career record to 8-0 with the victory ... Drew Butera's two hits give him 99 for his career ... Courtney Propst was thrown out twice trying to steal, snapping a perfect 9-for-9 streak he had to start the season. uth