May 11, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF baseball team surrendered seven two-out runs in the second inning and could not recover in a 14-3 seven-inning loss to UAB Sunday at Jay Bergman Field. The Knights were hoping to end the Conference USA regular season with a sweep of the Blazers (21-31, 5-16), but instead fell to 8-16 in league play and 31-22 overall.
Even though UCF suffered the defeat, which lasted just seven frames due to the C-USA rule where a team was ahead by at least 10 runs through seven innings on a travel day, Memphis fell to Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. That ensured the Knights of finishing seventh in the C-USA standings.
Designated hitter Chris Duffy blasted his team-leading eighth home run in the series finale for UCF, and junior Robert Lara collected a pair of hits in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. Meanwhile for UAB, Ryan Keedy went 3-for-5 with six RBI, and starting pitcher Mitch Kloskowski (6-5) worked all 7.0 innings for the win.
First-inning troubles were back for the UCF pitching staff Sunday, as Keedy tagged redshirt sophomore Mitch Houck for a RBI double to grab the early lead. Keedy was back at it in the second, sending a bases-loaded double, his school-record tying 24th of the year, to right-center with two outs to bring it to 4-0, and UAB added one more run to force the Knights to go the bullpen. However, Luke Stewart greeted Austin Hudson with a two run homer over the scoreboard in right, and UAB eventually finished with an 8-0 cushion.
UCF started to take advantage of a hard wind blowing out to right center as well in the third. Facing Kloskowski, Duffy lifted a low 2-0 offering over the scoreboard as well to start trimming into his team's deficit. Senior Dwayne Bailey followed with a first-pitch double to the right-center gap, moved to third on groundout and touched home on a long sacrifice fly to center off the bat of senior Tyson Auer.
Although the Black and Gold offense started to produce, the UAB bats returned in the fourth for a pair of runs, while Keedy and Hardy each delivered two-run homers in the fifth and the Blazers were on their way to the win.
With the C-USA regular season in the rearview mirror, the Knights get back into the non-conference portion of their schedule with a three-game series vs. Clemson beginning Thursday, May 15. The C-USA Championship will then be slated for May 21-25 in New Orleans.
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
UAB - 21-31 Overall, 5-16 Conference USA
UCF - 31-22 Overall, 8-16 Conference USA
WP: Mitch Kloskowski (6-5), 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
LP: Mitch Houck (4-3), 1.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
- UCF's 8-16 C-USA record is its best final league mark in three seasons in the conference.
- Sunday was the second time this season a UCF game ended early due to the run rule. Last week in New Orleans, the Knights topped Tulane 12-1 in seven innings.
- Tyson Auer's sac fly in the third was the Knights' 31st of the year, their most sac flies in a season since 2004 (38).
- UCF committed just one error, marking the 22nd-straight game that its fielders did make more than two miscues.
- Chris Duffy's homer was his 16th career dinger in two seasons with the Knights.
- Carmine Giardina pitched 1.2 hitless innings of relief.
- Tyson Auer and Shane Brown each tallied a RBI in the loss.
- The Knights witnessed their four-game winning streak snapped Sunday. It was their longest streak since an 11-game stretch March 7-19.
- Dwayne Bailey's double in the third inning was his 10th of 2008. Last year, the second baseman had just five two-baggers.
- Robert Lara finished the C-USA portion of the schedule with a .358 batting average and 18 RBI. Evan Stobbs (.458), Colin Arnold (.333), Eric Kallstrom (.326), Ryan Richardson (.311), Kiko Vazquez (.310) and Dwayne Bailey (.305) all batted over .300 as well in league games.