April 2, 2005
DeLAND - For the second straight game, No. 18 UCF belted three home runs as the Golden Knights pounded out a season-high 21 hits in an 18-11 victory over Stetson Saturday afternoon at Melching Field. For the second straight game, Dee Brown, Matt Horwath and John-Michael Howell went deep as UCF exploded for its most runs vs. the Hatters since the 1999 campaign when UCF put 20 runs on the scoreboard vs. their A-Sun rivals.
"We had to score a lot of runs to win today and we did," stated UCF head coach Jay Bergman. "Every time Stetson scored, we scored and we kept scoring and just didn't quit. Sometimes when you get ahead like that, the easiest thing you can do is back off. Today we stayed with our offense and kept scoring runs, which was good to see."
UCF's top four batters in the line-up combined for 12 RBI as the Golden Knights (26-7, 8-3 A-Sun) evened the Atlantic Sun Conference series with the Hatters (17-12, 6-5 A-Sun) at a game apiece. UCF clubbed 21 hits, nine for extra bases including a triple and three home runs. Matt Ray and John-Michael Howell each had three hits and three RBI, while Ryan Bono scored four runs.
Stetson collected 16 hits for the game, including four each by Shane Jordan and Chris Johnson. Jon Still added three hits, including his second home run of the year, and drove in four.
After Stetson took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, UCF scored five times in third behind back-to-back home runs by Dee Brown and Howell. The Knights went on to score in every inning after the third, including four-run fifth inning that made the score 11-4.
Brian Brooks (3-1) pitched 1.1 innings in relief of Mike Billek to earn the victory. Billek worked the first 4.2 innings but did not qualify for a decision.
Chris Ingoglia (2-2), the first of six Hatter pitchers, suffered the loss.
The teams will play the finale of their three-game series at 5 p.m. Sunday. The game will be televised live by Sun Sports.
Game Notes: After hitting just 27 home runs in 65 games in 2004, the Golden Knights have 31 home runs as a team through 33 games this season ... John-Michael Howell and Matt Horwath have hit a home run in three consecutive games for the Golden Knights ... the four-hour, 13-minute game was the longest game time-wise of the season for UCF ... the last time UCF had over 20 hits in a game prior to today was March 17, 2004 vs. Wagner when the Golden Knights totaled 22 hits ... UCF has hit eight home runs over its last three games, including six in the Stetson series.