March 16, 2005
ORLANDO - Dee Brown finished a combined 4-for-8 with four RBI in leading No. 22 UCF to a doubleheader sweep of Columbia, 13-2 and 10-0, Wednesday afternoon at Jay Bergman Field. With the four RBI, Brown moved into eighth place in Atlantic Sun history for career RBI with 184.
UCF improved to 21-3 overall while Columbia fell to 1-8 with the two losses. UCF is off to its best start in school history with the 21-3 mark.
The two teams started the day with a nine-inning game that carried over from Tuesday night. After rain ended Tuesday's game in the bottom of the third, the two teams resumed play in the third today and the Golden Knights finally broke the scoreless tie in the fifth. Brown drilled his fifth home run of the season over the wall in left-center to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead. The five home runs on the season equal the most Brown has ever hit in one season. He also hit five homers in 2004 for UCF.
UCF put the game away in the sixth with eight runs on five hits, including a two-run triple by Kevin Richmond and a three-run home run off the bat of Marshall Bernhard. The home run for Bernhard was the first of his career.
Columbia broke up a no-hitter in the seventh with two runs on three hits. Taylor Cobb, in relief of Tuesday's starter Ray Rodriguez, was effective in going 6.0 innings for the win. Cobb yielded just two runs on three hits with three strikeouts to improve to 2-0 on the season.
UCF out-hit the Lions 11-3 as Columbia committed five errors. Three Golden Knights had multi-hit games including Brown, Bernhard and Matt Ray. Bernhard also tied a career-high with four RBI for the victors.
In game two, senior Matt Rhodes started and threw four innings of scoreless baseball as UCF earned its second shutout of the season, 10-0. Rhodes limited the Lions to just two hits and struck out five.
UCF scored two runs in the first without a hit, taking advantage of two Columbia errors. After one run in the third, the Golden Knights put the seven-inning game away with a three-spot in the fourth. Brown had a two-run double in the frame and John-Michael Howell had a RBI-single to lead UCF to the victory.
The Golden Knights totaled 10 hits, including three by Richmond and two by Chandler Rose and Brown.
UCF stole a season-high nine bases in the 10-run win.
The Golden Knights leave the state of Florida for the first time in 2005 this weekend as they travel to Gardner-Webb. The series begins with a doubleheader Friday at Varsity Field in Boiling Springs, N.C. There will be no live statistics or game broadcast from Gardner-Webb.