May 25, 2005
DeLAND - Jon Still's three-run home run in the first inning propelled No. 4 seed Stetson (32-25) to an 8-5 victory over No. 3 seed UCF (40-17) in the opening round of the Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship Wednesday night at Melching Field in DeLand. Stetson jumped on UCF starter Ray Rodriguez for four runs in the first and held on for the victory.
"That has just been the way we have played this month," stated UCF head coach Jay Bergman. "They (Stetson) had opportunities and took advantage of it and that was the whole difference in the ball game."
The Hatters snapped a six-game losing streak to UCF in the A-Sun Tournament as the Hatters (1-6) won their first-ever game over UCF in A-Sun postseason play.
Stetson starter Chris Ingoglia (8-3) pitched 7.0 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) with four strikeouts for the win. UCF reliever Matt Rhodes (2-1) yielded one run in 1.1 innings for the loss.
Normally a fast starting team all season, UCF entered the game with a 48-14 advantage in the first inning before Stetson put a four-spot on the scoreboard Wednesday.
Stetson scored three of the four runs with two outs as Still launched a three-run home run to right center. The home run came after a 12-minute delay in which home plate umpire John Connacher left the game due to injury.
UCF got one run back in the second on a RBI infield single by Kevin Richmond to close the gap to 4-1.
UCF made it 4-2 in the third on a sacrifice fly by John-Michael Howell.
UCF scored two in the fourth to even the game at four. Drew Butera scored on a wild pitch and Matt Ray drove in a run with a RBI groundout to tie the game.
Braedyn Pruitt's RBI in the fifth gave the lead back to Stetson for good at 5-4.
The Hatters put the game out of reach in the eighth with three runs, including a RBI single by Nick Palmisano to secure the Stetson win.
UCF will play No. 6 seed Gardner-Webb Thursday at 3 p.m. The game is scheduled to air live on 740-AM The Team (UCF ISP Sports Network) and ucfathletics.com.
Game Notes: The game was delayed 12 minutes in the top of the first as home plate umpire John Connacher left the game after getting hit by a foul ball ... Rick Armstrong replaced Connacher behind the plate ... UCF dropped to 13-12 when the opposition scores first ... UCF is 5-8 since its 10-day layoff for finals at the end of April.