April 29, 2005
ORLANDO - Robbie Widlansky knocked a three-run homer to cap a seven-run sixth inning as Florida Atlantic defeated No. 25 UCF 8-4 on Friday night at Jay Bergman Field.
FAU (25-16, 12-10 A-Sun) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a RBI single by Jonathon Shapland.
The Golden Knights (35-10, 14-5 A-Sun) responded in the bottom half of the inning when Matt Horwath (Lake Mary/Lake Mary) ripped a single up the middle to give UCF a 2-1 advantage.
Shapland would collect another RBI single tying the game at two to start the sixth. Two batters later, Tim Mascia gave the Owls the lead for good driving in two more runs with a single.
The big hit in the inning came on the three-run home run by Widlansky to give the Owls an 8-2 advantage after 5.5 innings of play.
The Golden Knights scored four runs over the final four innings and brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth inning, but FAU closer Mike McBryde struck out Tyson Auer (Longwood/Bishop Moore) for his team-leading eighth save of the season.
FAU starter Mickey Storey (6-1) threw 149 pitches in 8.0 innings of work for the win. The freshman right-hander fanned 11 en route to the win. UCF starter Darren Newlin (Tallahassee/Godby) lost for just the second time on the season, falling to 8-2 in 2005. Newlin yielded four runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings.
Each team totaled 12 hits as four Golden Knights recorded multi-hit nights.
UCF continues its series with Florida Atlantic tomorrow evening. First pitch slated for 6:00 p.m., and the game can be heard live on UCFathletics.com
Game Notes: UCF dropped to 11-7 this season when the opposition scores first ... the 11 strikeouts by Storey was a season-high for a starter against the Golden Knights ... Tyson Auer picked up his ninth RBI of the season in the fourth inning ... Matt Horwath became the seventh Golden Knight to eclipse the 30th RBI mark this season ... UCF (7-1) lost its first game of the season when not committing an error.