Oct. 16, 2006
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Although Major League Baseball is winding down its 2006 season, the UCF baseball team's new campaign is just beginning. The Golden Knights open fall practice Monday at 1:30 p.m. at Jay Bergman Field in what should be the start of a very exciting season.
Head coach Jay Bergman enters his 25th year at UCF and will see a lot of new faces join a mix of talented veterans for 2006-07. Highlighting a list of student-athletes returning from last season's team, which produced a 23-33 record in its first year in Conference USA, includes seven hitters that played in at least 30 contests and eight pitchers that saw action in at least 10 ballgames. The coaching staff fills out its roster with 14 newcomers, half of which are true freshmen.
UCF's leading hitter from a year ago, junior Tyson Auer (Longwood, Fla./Lake Mary), went .323 at the plate with six triples. Out of the players coming back, Auer had the most stolen bases in 2006, swiping 17 of 18 bases. As the lone senior hitter for 2007, Matt Horwath (Laky Mary, Fla./Lake Mary) ventures back to second base following a campaign in which he went .265 at the plate with 18 RBI in 36 starts.
Meanwhile, sophomores Steve Stropp (Juno Beach, Fla./Palm Beach Gardens), Eric Kallstrom (South West Ranches, Fla./Cypress Bay), Ryan Williams (Sebring, Fla./Sebring) and Kiko Vazquez (Sebring, Fla./Sebring) each had solid freshman years. Stropp was primarily used as the designated hitter, batting .295 with five homers and a .459 slugging percentage. Kallstrom started 50 games, mostly at shortstop, and compiled 21 RBI and six sacrifices. Williams played in 51 games in the outfield and at DH, going .290 while scoring 20 runs. And Vazquez served as UCF's first baseman, starting 51 games and driving in 21 runs.
However, catcher Ryan Bono finished his final year at UCF in 2006 by leading the Golden Knights in starts (54), at-bats (200), hits (64), home runs (six), RBI (33), total bases (96), slugging (.480), sacrifice bunts (eight) and fielding percentage (.993). Reliever Dominic Petracca also will be sorely missed after he posted a team-best eight saves in 27 appearances. He completed the season with a 2.08 earned-run average and 37 strikeouts, walking just five in 39.0 innings of work.
Even though Petracca will be absent from the mound, UCF still has some impressive arms returning. Lefty Mitch Houck (So., Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) was 3-4 with a 4.24 ERA as a freshman, tossing one complete-game shutout and sitting down 70 on strikes. Classmate and right-hander Kyle Sweat (Apopka, Fla./Apopka) also was 3-4 with a 4.52 ERA in 11 starts.
Also on the hill, seniors Brian Brooks (Oviedo, Fla./Oviedo) and Derek Abriola (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) combined for 42 appearances last year, 41 of them out of the bullpen. Both will be key contributors to this season's pitching staff.
Included out of the 14 newcomers, the Golden Knights have three catchers and five pitchers to help solidify the roster. They will all be looked upon to provide the spark UCF needs in order to return to the NCAA Tournament.
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