April 9, 2006
ORLANDO - East Carolina senior left-handed pitcher Brody Taylor tossed eight strong innings and allowed just one run to give the visiting Pirates an 8-1 victory over UCF in the rubber game of the three-game series Sunday afternoon at Jay Bergman Field. Taylor (5-1) scattered seven hits and yielded just one base runner after the fourth inning to raise his record to 5-1 on the season.
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Taylor Meier turned in a strong performance for the Golden Knights (20-15, 3-3 C-USA). Meier made his first career C-USA start and pitched 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts. He left the game leading 1-0 in the sixth inning before the UCF bullpen allowed both runners to score in the sixth.
"That was a real promising start for Taylor and will only lead to good things down the road," stated UCF head coach Jay Bergman. "The interesting thing about our team the last three or four weekends is that as the weekend has progressed, we score less and our opponent scores more. That is not a good sign."
UCF scored first on a RBI-double by senior catcher Ryan Bono in the third inning.
The Pirates (21-13, 4-5 C-USA) captured the lead with one swing in the sixth when first baseman Adam Witter singled to left center field to plate two runs to hand ECU a 2-1 lead. The two-run single came against UCF reliever Brian Brooks vs. the first batter he faced coming out of the bullpen.
East Carolina ripped the game open in the seventh with five runs. The Pirates used four hits in the frame and took advantage of two UCF errors to score three unearned runs.
UCF committed its third error of the game in the eighth to lead to another unearned run for the Pirates to close out the scoring, 8-1.
Eight different Pirates recorded a hit while junior third baseman Matt Ray and Bono each collected two hits for the Golden Knights.
UCF returns to action Tuesday evening at home vs. USF. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. from Jay Bergman Field.
Game Notes: Freshman RHP Kyle Sweat was UCF's scheduled starter, but was suspended one game by head coach Jay Bergman for a violation of team policy.