April 28, 2005
ORLANDO - After a 10 day layoff, No. 25 UCF gets back to action with a weekend series against Florida Atlantic (24-15, 11-10 A-Sun).
Pitching has been a strongpoint this season for the Golden Knights (35-9, 14-4 A-Sun). The staff paces the Atlantic Sun conference with a 3.50 team ERA and 370 strikeouts.
Tim Bascom is slated to start the series on Friday night. Bascom carries an 8-2 mark in 77.1 innings of work this season. He leads the staff with 84 strikeouts and is holding opponents to a .233 batting average.
Darren Newlin is expected to take the mound on Saturday night. The senior holds a 3.65 ERA with an 8-1 record. His lone loss came all the way back in March.
After his last start when he shut down Belmont on April 17, Mike Billek was awarded Atlantic Sun Pitcher-of-the- Week honors. Billek threw eight shutout innings mowing down eight Bruins. The junior is slated to start the final game of the series, and carries a 3-1 record with a 3.52 ERA.
The UCF offense has also had a strong season. John Michael Howell carries a .389 batting average into the weekend. That feat is good enough for fourth in the A-Sun. Howell has combined with Dee Brown has combined for 23 home runs and 94 RBI.
All three games this weekend will have live radio coverage. Games one and three will be carried live on 740-AM The Team, while game two is scheduled to air on UCFathletics.com only. First pitch on Friday and Saturday night is slated for 6:00 p.m. at Jay Bergman Field.