May 13, 2007
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Greenville, N.C. (www.ucfathletics.com) - A seven-game road trip, the UCF baseball team's longest of the season, came to a close Sunday when No. 30 East Carolina completed a three-game Conference USA sweep with a 13-8 win. The Knights (24-29, 5-16) will now come home to face Marshall Thursday-Sunday in a series that will determine who gets the final spot in the C-USA Championship.
Tying the UCF season-long hitting streak set by Tyson Auer, Kiko Vazquez recorded a hit for the 15th-straight game by going 3-for-5 with three runs scored, and pounding out his ninth homer. Ryan Richardson and Auer also kept their current streaks alive, moving them to 12 and 10, respectively. In all, the Knights have four players with active hitting streaks of at least 10 games (Matt Horwath, who has an 11-game string working, did not play in the series finale).
Meanwhile, Chris Duffy added a two-run home run in the third inning to give him six dingers on the year, and Eric Kallstrom connected for a two-run job of his own in the fifth for his fourth of 2007. For the series, the two teams combined for 50 runs (ECU 29-21) on 79 hits (UCF 45-37), including UCF's season-high 17 hits in game three. On the mound, Brian Brooks dominated the Pirates over the final 4.1 innings, limiting them to just one hit and striking out four over that span.
To pace the Pirate (35-17, 13-7) offense, Kyle Roller was 3-for-4 with six RBI as East Carolina wrapped up the victory with 11 hits.
Rain returned to Clark-LeClair Stadium in the top of the first, and that played a role in UCF's first run off starting pitcher Josh Dowdy. With two down, Vazquez ripped a double down the left-field line and Duffy hit a high pop-up to left. Jamie Ray tried to camp under it, but saw the ball glance off his glove to permit Vazquez to score. To get the second going, Kallstrom drilled a 2-2 pitch to deep center field, where Harrison Eldridge raced back and witnessed the ball fall out of his outstretched glove. The two-base error set up a sacrifice bunt from Kyle Mills, and a passed ball with two down provided the Knights with a 2-0 lead.
That advantage did not hold up in the bottom half. Facing UCF starter Eric English (2-4), Roller sent a three-run homer to right to make the lead changes hands. Once again, though, the Knights added some offense in the third. Vazquez started it by singling to right, which set up Duffy's two-run shot. On a 3-1 pitch, the freshman belted a four-bagger not only over the right-field fence, but well past a secondary fence on onto the ECU football team's practice fields.
Capping off the third stanza, Brandon Romans singled and Richardson cranked a double to right center to place runners at second and third. A ground out off the bat of Kallstrom drove in Romans to make it 5-3. The Pirates stormed back, however, scoring five runs on six hits, sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning.
Down 8-5 in the fourth, three-straight singles from Chadd Hartman, Auer and Dwayne Bailey loaded the bases with no outs. But reliever Bailey Daniels picked up a fly out to right and two strike outs against the Nos. 3-5 hitters to end the threat. The next time ECU came to the plate, it added five two-out runs to increase its margin to 13-5.
An eight-run deficit can look bleak for most teams. For UCF it was a different story. After Richardson led off the fifth with a single, Kallstrom popped one into a heavy wind blowing out to left. Ray first came in, then started backward and found himself watching as the ball sailed over the fence for a two-run homer. In the sixth, Vazquez smoked a no-doubter over the left-field wall to enable UCF to creep back even more, 13-8.
Romans, Richardson and Kallstrom all had hopes of a dramatic comeback, earning base hits to fill them up with nobody out in the ninth. ECU closer Shane Mathews stepped onto the hill and put a stop to the relentless UCF bats, holding the Knights scoreless for the second time in the game when they had the bases full and no outs.
The biggest weekend of the season awaits UCF as it hosts Marshall in the final C-USA series of 2007. The eighth-place Knights welcome the ninth-place Thundering Herd (4-16) to Jay Bergman Field Thursday-Saturday, as only one of the two programs will qualify for the eight-team Conference USA Championship May 23-27 at ECU. The Black and Gold currently hold a half-game lead over Marshall. First pitch for game one Thursday is set for 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: Josh Ruhlman (5-1), 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
LP: Eric English (2-4), 2.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
SV: Shane Mathews (12), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
- Thanks to 17 base hits in the finale, it was the ninth-straight game UCF notched at least 10 hits in a game. It also was the 11th time in the last 12 outings the Knights posted double-digits in the hit department.
- Seventeen hits were the most in a game for the Knights' offense since it had 20 at Marshall March 31.
- All nine starters posted at least one hit for the Black and Gold.
- Brandon Romans concluded his day by matching his season-high with three hits, and also scored a run.
- East Carolina pitchers did not walk a batter in the series finale, while the hitters swiped six bases.
- The Knights fell to 0-6 all-time at East Carolina, and 3-9 in the overall series. They also finished the 2007 road schedule with a 5-15 record.
- Sunday was the second time this season that UCF notched three homers in a game (at Memphis, May 4).
- Senior lefty Brian Brooks struck out the side in the sixth in what was his 20th appearance this year.
- Tyson Auer, Kiko Vazquez and Chris Duffy were batting first, third and fourth in the order, respectively, for the first time since UAB March 30.
- With his two-run homer in the fifth, sophomore Eric Kallstrom matched his home run production from a year ago.