Nov. 6, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - In game one of the Black & Gold World Series at Jay Bergman Field, Stephen Branca laced an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth for the go-ahead run as the gold squad hung on for a 5-3 win over black Tuesday morning. The two teams will continue the three-game series Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
Mitch Houck got the start for the gold squad, finishing with 4.0 innings and giving up two hits and three walks. He struck out three and allowed an unearned run. Coming out of the pen, Cory Weech surrendered a run in 2.0 innings but struck out three and Paul Cinder gave up a run in 1.1 innings of work. Carmine Giardina picked up the win by hurling 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
For the black team, Austin Hudson started on the hill and allowed three runs in 3.2 innings, striking out one. Matt Goodyear relieved Hudson and pitched 3.2 scoreless innings until being tagged with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Justin Weiss pitched the final 0.2 innings for black.
All of the pitchers had a pitch count limit of 65. The teams were determined through a mock draft by the seniors, while the freshmen had the honor of singing the national anthem before the game.
Leading the way for the hitters, Chris Duffy and Nick Choto each collected two hits for black, while Branca, Colin Arnold and Matt Manning had two hits apiece for gold.
Tyson Auer gave the black team a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, getting aboard on a walk, reaching second by way of an error and scoring on a stolen base and a throwing error. Gold struck back in the bottom half when Manning delivered a one-out double to left field. He eventually scored on an infield grounder off the bat of Ryan Richardson.
Gold returned to the plate in the fourth as Shane Brown was hit by a pitch and Rob Lara walked. With two down, Branca and Manning both came through with a pair of RBI singles to make it 3-1. The lead was cut in half in the top of the six when Kiko Vazquez led off with a single and Duffy followed up with a double to the wall in right center, scoring Vazquez all of the way from first.
Brandon Romans provided the black team with the equalizer in the top of the eighth on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded, tying things up at 3-3. However, gold responded in the eighth. After Brown got on thanks to a one-out walk and Lara doubled down the line in left, Kyle Mills was intentionally walked to load the bases. Hoping to break the tie, Branca placed a single between first and second that scored Brown. Gold added an insurance run when Branca and Lara successfully converted the double steal.
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