March 6, 2007
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Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Freshman southpaw Carmine Giardina sparked the UCF baseball team Tuesday, striking out 10 to help lift the Golden Knights to a 7-5 victory over Michigan State at Jay Bergman Field. The Black and Gold stretched its record to 7-9 on the season, while the Spartans fell back to .500 with a 3-3 mark.
Giardina (1-0) posted the longest outing by a UCF starter this season, tossing 6.0 innings and giving up just one run on only three hits. With 10 strikeouts, Giardina recorded the most by a Golden Knight pitcher since April 30, 2006 (Tim Bascom - 10).
"I had a lot of confidence and (Steve) Stropp did a great job behind the plate blocking everything, so I had confidence throwing my curve ball in the dirt," said Giardina, who notched his first collegiate victory on the mound. "The defense made plays and that helped me a lot. It was a great team win tonight."
Tyson Auer set a career-high with four stolen bases, racking them up in just the first four innings of the game. Meanwhile, Chadd Hartman extended his hitting streak to seven games by going 1-for-5 in the victory.
While Giardina cruised through the top of the first, UCF earned three walks to load the bases with just one out against John Dwan in the bottom half. However, the senior lefty struck out Stropp and got Chris Duffy to fly out to third, keeping the Knights scoreless. Two innings later, MSU grabbed the lead. The Spartans opened the inning when Justin Potes struck out, but still reached on a wild pitch. He would later score on a ground out off the bat of Eli Boike. Although Michigan State eventually had two runners on with one away, Giardina managed to strike out both Brandon Doherty and Steve Gerstenberger to keep the damage to just the one run.
The Black and Gold came right back, taking the lead thanks to Kiko Vazquez. After a leadoff walk was issued to Auer and Hartman got aboard on a base hit, Vazquez laced a 3-2 pitch just inside the line in left, scoring both runners and allowing UCF to grab a 2-1 advantage. Following two quick outs, the Knights were not done. An intentional walk to Duffy put two on, and after a balk moved Vazquez and Duffy into scoring position, a fielding error provided UCF with its third run. To conclude the scoring, Dwan added a wild pitch to let UCF climb its lead to 4-1.
Now facing reliever AJ Dunn in the fifth inning, UCF plated two more runs to make it 6-1. A walk to Brandon Romans got things going and Steve Stropp placed a perfect bunt down to sacrifice his teammate to second. Duffy then kept his hitting alive at five, singling to right field. Ryan Richardson kept the pressure on the MSU pitchers, placing a RBI single into left. Moments later, the Knights loaded the bases, where Peter Wolff came on and immediately walked Auer to hand UCF another run.
Even though it went four-straight innings without scoring, MSU went to work in the eighth against Matt McClung. Doherty walked to start the frame, and Gerstenberger reached on a single. Sean Walker delivered the key hit, sending a double to the gap in right-center to cut the lead in half, 6-3. Eric Roof continued the comeback, driving in Walker on a single to left center. UCF went to the pen, bringing out Derek Abriola, who gave up a single, wild pitch and a ground out for MSU's final run of the inning. Abriola made sure UCF stayed on top, inducing Boike to fly out on the infield to end the stanza.
Having Abriola keep the lead proved to be huge, as UCF posted an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Richardson, scoring Romans from third. Justin Weiss sealed the win in the ninth to earn his third save of the season.
UCF gets right back to work Wednesday when it welcomes Northeastern to Orlando at 6:30 p.m. For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics.
Game Notes
WP: Carmine Giardina (1-0), 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
LP: John Dwan (1-1), 3.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K
SV: Justin Weiss (3), 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
- Sophomore Kiko Vazquez recorded his first-career stolen base in the win over the Spartans.
- Brandon Romans went 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.
- Tyson Auer was able to steal four bases because he was issued four walks in the game. He also posted a run and a RBI on the evening.
- In all, the Knights stole six bases vs. MSU (Auer 4, Vazquez 1, Richardson 1).
- UCF has defeated both teams it will face from the Big Ten this season, Michigan and Michigan State.