March 21, 2008
Saturday's Preview in PDF Format
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Southern Miss jumped on the No. 16 UCF baseball team early and cruised to an 8-4 victory Friday in Hattiesburg in the Conference USA opener for both programs. The loss snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Knights (19-2, 0-1), while the Golden Eagles (13-6, 1-0) kept their streak alive at seven outings.
UCF collected a season-low six hits in the game, where USM starting pitcher Barry Bowden amassed 14 strikeouts in 8.0 innings. Senior Ryan Richardson did crank a solo homer to left in the seventh inning for his second dinger of the season. The right fielder finished 2-for-3 to notch at least one hit in his last eight games.
Southern Miss' first two hits of the night sailed over the fence, as James Ewing and Kyle Maxie led off the first and second innings, respectively, with solo homers off UCF starter Jaager Good (3-1). Bo Davis made it 3-0 in the second with a two-out RBI double. The Knights tried to respond in the third, loading the bases with one down but Bowden struck out the next two hitters to escape.
Maxie came back in the third as the Golden Eagles continued to take advantage of a hard wind blowing out to left-center, driving a two-out, two-run job over the center-field wall to bring it to 5-0. USM added two more two-out runs in the fourth and was on their way to the win.
UCF tried to mound a late comeback in the ninth. Junior Eric Kallstrom and sophomore Kyle Mills were able to tally two runs on a pair of sacrifice flies, and senior Dwayne Bailey drove in another on a two-out single up the middle. However, the Golden Eagle margin was too much to overcome.
The weekend continues with game two Saturday in Hattiesburg. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. ET.
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
No. 16 UCF - 19-2 Overall, 0-1 Conference USA
Southern Miss - 13-6 Overall, 1-0 Conference USA
WP: Barry Bowden (4-1), 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 14 K
LP: Jaager Good (3-1), 3.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
- Southern Miss held a moment of silence before the game in memory of the life of UCF football player Ereck Plancer, who passed away March 18.
- The Knights are now 3-2 in their last five conference openers.
- Both of UCF's losses this year have come on the road.
- Friday marked just the second time this year UCF batters struck out at least 10 times.
- The loss ends a string of five-straight three-game series sweeps for the Knights.