Feb. 29, 2008
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ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Senior Jaager Good struck out eight in his second-consecutive outing to lift the UCF baseball team to a 4-0 shutout vs. Central Michigan Friday at Jay Bergman Field. The win kept the Knights undefeated on the year as they improved to 5-0.
Good struck out five-straight Chippewas (1-4) at one point and sat down the side on strikes in both the third and fourth frames. Good improved to 2-0 in 2008 by hurling 5.0 innings surrendering just three hits. In all, UCF pitchers fanned 13 CMU batters, marking the fifth-straight game the Knights' pitching staff recorded at least 10 strikeouts.
"It was kind of a roller coast ride for me," said Good, a native of Atlanta, Ga. "I think today was the first day in a long time that I felt like my stuff was there. The curveball was really sharp today and it really helped me out, and then I got some changeups to work as well."
At the dish, junior Colin Arnold scored three of UCF's four runs and went 2-for-3 in the win.
Following a quiet first inning, Central Michigan picked up a walk, single and sacrifice bunt to put runners in scoring position with one down in the second inning. However, Good recovered and struck out the final two batters to keep the game scoreless.
When the Knights came to the plate in their half, they filled the bases for junior Rob Lara with two away. On the first pitch from Dan Taylor (0-1), Lara skied a pop up near home plate that the Chippewas immediately had problems with. When it started to come down, first baseman Sean Hoorelbeke tried to get underneath it only to see the ball glance off his glove and land fair, allowing two unearned runs to score.
UCF stretched the lead to 3-0 in the third with a two-out RBI single from sophomore Chris Duffy to plate Arnold who earlier reached on an infield single. CMU would not let up its pressure in the fourth, loading them up with nobody out. Good once again did not back down, fanning the next three batters to escape the jam.
Sophomore Carmine Giardina then came on in relief in the sixth inning and kept the Chippewas at bay, tossing 3.0 shutout innings with four strikeouts and just one hit against him. UCF added some insurance when it strode to the plate in the eighth, picking up a sacrifice fly from senior Ryan Richardson. Junior Justin Weiss completed the shutout by notching a strikeout in a scoreless ninth.
The three-game series with Central Michigan continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
Season tickets as well as single-game tickets to check out UCF baseball this year are currently available by contacting the UCF Ticket Office at 407-823-1000, or by going online at www.ucfathletics.com, the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Game Notes
Central Michigan - 1-4 Overall, 0-0 MAC
UCF - 5-0 Overall, 0-0 Conference USA
WP: Jaager Good (2-0), 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
LP: Dan Taylor (0-1), 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
- UCF moved to 5-0 for the first time since 2005 when the Knights also opened the season by winning their first five games of the year.
- Dating back to last year, Jaager Good stretched his scoreless-inning streak to 17.2 innings.
- On the last leap day in 2004, UCF claimed a 5-1 victory over Monmouth in Orlando. The win completed a three-game sweep over the Hawks.
- Shane Brown extended his hitting streak to seven games dating back to 2007. The first baseman went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
- Dwayne Bailey, meanwhile, stretched his streak to six games when he singled to leadoff the fifth.
- UCF is playing a school from the Mid-American Conference in a three-game series for the first time in school history this weekend.