March 22, 2005
GAINESVILLE - Florida second baseman Adam Davis finished 3-for-5 with a home run and seven RBI to lead the No. 11 Gators past No. 20 UCF 17-6 Tuesday evening at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville.
With the win, Florida improved to 17-6 overall while the Golden Knights dropped to 23-5. The loss was the first of the season for UCF vs. a Florida school (6-1).
Despite the loss, UCF is 18 games above .500 at the halfway point of the season.
UCF scored first in the third when Kevin Richmond drilled a ground rule double to center field, scoring Courtney Propst from second to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead. Matt Ray followed with a two-run home run to right - his first career home run - to increase the UCF lead to 3-0.
The Golden Knights tagged Florida starter Bryan Augenstein for three runs on five hits in just 2.1 innings of work.
UCF starter Taylor Cobb looked to breeze through the fourth with two quick outs, but Stephen Barton and Gavin Dickey hit consecutive bloop singles and Jeff Corsaletti followed with a RBI-single to left to cut the UCF lead to 3-1. With runners on first and third, Davis hit his fourth home run of the season down the line in right to give Florida its first lead of the evening, 4-3.
The Golden Knights evened the score at four in the sixth on a two-out single by Ryan Bono, which scored Matt Horwath from second base. Florida second baseman Adam Davis made a diving stop up the middle to keep the ball in the infield, but Horwath hustled the entire way on the play to score the tying run.
Davis continued to be a thorn in UCF's side in the sixth as the Gator second baseman drilled a two-run double to the gap in right-center, scoring two, to give Florida a 6-4 lead. Matt LaPorta continued the scoring with a RBI-single to left to score Davis, giving the Gators a 7-4 advantage. Florida continued its big inning as Brian Leclerc singled up the middle, scoring LaPorta, to give the Gators an 8-4 lead.
After a 57-minute delay in the middle of the seventh inning, Florida continued its late-inning scoring with three runs in the home half of the seventh to pad the lead to 11-4.
John-Michael Howell drilled his third hit of the night - a RBI-single to right - to cut the deficit to 11-5. The Florida transfer was 3-for-4 on the night for the Golden Knights.
The Gators ripped the game open with six runs in the eighth, thanks in large part to two UCF errors in the frame.
Ray drove in his third run of the night with a double down the line in left to close out the scoring.
Florida reliever Darren O'Day (4-2) earned the victory with 3.1 innings of relief with three strikeouts. Dominic Petracca (0-1) was tagged with the loss for the Golden Knights.
UCF tallied 13 hits on the night, including a career-high four by Bono while Ray tied a career-high with four hits and three RBI for the Golden Knights.
UCF returns to action Friday at home in A-Sun action vs. Jacksonville. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from Jay Bergman Field.
Game Notes: The game was delayed 57 minutes in the middle of the seventh inning due to lightning and rain ... Florida snapped a two-game losing streak to UCF with the 8-4 win ... the Gators lead the all-time series 16-11 series ... Dominic Petracca walked his first batter of the season in the 18.0 innings of work in the sixth ... Petracca has 24 strikeouts and just one walk in 2005 ... UCF dropped to 16-2 when scoring first ... the Golden Knights lost their first night game of the season (10-1) ... UCF lost just its second game of the season (14-2) when totaling 10 or more hits ... Florida's Jeff Corsaletti finished 5-for-5, becoming the first player vs. UCF to record five hits in a game since Rick Stegbauer of South Florida on April 17, 2001.