April 18, 2008
Saturday's Preview in PDF Format
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF baseball opened its second half of the Conference USA season with a 12-10 defeat at the hands of Marshall Friday at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va. The Knights outhit the Thundering Herd (17-19-1, 5-7-1), 18-11, but still fell to 26-14 on the year and 4-9 in C-USA play.
Seven different Knights had at least two hits on the night, led by senior Ryan Richardson and junior Colin Arnold who each had three, while the 18 (originally was 17, but a scoring change made it 18) hits set a season-high. Junior Robert Lara added three RBI in the loss.
Hoping to get the three-game series off to a strong start, UCF got on the board right away in the first against Marshall starter Andrew Blain. It all kicked off with a leadoff walk to senior Dwayne Bailey and Arnold easily moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Richardson then took a Blain offering the opposite way for a RBI double down the line in right to plate Bailey.
A run-scoring single by Victor Gomez in the second off freshman Cody Allen, though, tied it up at 1-1. The Knights did respond with three-straight one-out singles in the third, capped off with a base hit through the left side from Lara to bring in Arnold, making it 2-1. But once again Marshall was back at it, loading the bases with no outs in the bottom half and went on to score six runs on just one hit to take a commanding 7-2 lead.
However, UCF's offensive production did not stop in the fourth, as sophomore Chris Duffy blasted his team-high fifth homer of the season off the scoreboard in left center. Later in the inning, senior Tyson Auer doubled to the left-center gap and crossed home thanks to a two-out single by Bailey. The Knights did fill the bases with one down in the fifth only to see Blain pick up a double-play ball to end the threat, keeping the game at 7-4.
UCF tried again in the sixth vs. Blain, picking up back-to-back singles from Auer and pinch-hitter Brandon Romans to get things going, and Bailey came through this time by rifling a 3-1 pitch up the middle to allow Auer to score. Following Arnold's second sac bunt of the evening, reliever Andrew Hancock stepped on the hill and proceeded to walk Richardson on four pitches. With the bases juiced once again, Lara made Marshall pay, lining a 3-2 pitch down the left-field line for a two-run double.
Now tied at 7-7, the Knights wanted the lead and grabbed it when junior Eric Kallstrom and Duffy each notched RBI singles to conclude a five-run inning. Somehow, the Herd did not back down and loaded them up with no outs for a second time in the bottom of the sixth and had a five-run inning themselves for a 12-9 advantage. That Marshall outburst proved to be the difference, and even though UCF added a run in the ninth, the Herd hung on for the win.
Game two of the C-USA series at Marshall will get underway Saturday at 1 p.m. at Appalachian Power Park.
UCF baseball single-game tickets 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
UCF - 26-14 Overall, 4-9 Conference USA
Marshall - 17-19-1 Overall, 5-7-1 Conference USA
WP: Andrew Hancock (2-1), 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
LP: Brennan Dobbins (1-1), 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
- Freshman Cody Allen was making his first weekend start as a Knight Friday at Marshall. His only previous start was a weekday victory over USF April 8.
- Catcher Robert Lara was faced with C-USA's leading base stealer, Adam Yeager, on first in the bottom of the first with no outs. After Allen struck out the next two batters, Yeager, who entered the game 25-for-28 on the bases, took off for second but watched Lara throw a strike to shortstop Eric Kallstrom who laid the easy tag for the third out.
- Colin Arnold's hitting streak extended to seven games. He also tied a school mark with two sacrifice bunts, a feat that has now been accomplished 24 times, including once this year by Tyson Auer.
- Chris Duffy's homer in the fourth was the 13th of his career.
- The Knights racked up at least 10 hits for the 26th time this year, and at least 15 for the eighth time.
- Dwayne Bailey had a pair of hits to post his 19th multi-hit game of 2008.
- Kyle Sweat made his first relief appearance of the season Friday after making a start in each of the first eight weekends, and went 2.2 scoreless innings. Sweat was not in the rotation this weekend in order to get some rest for the stretch run.