May 22, 2008
NEW ORLEANS, La. - With game one in the books, the UCF baseball team will hope to extend its 2008 season Friday at 10 a.m. ET on day three of the Entergy Conference USA Championship in New Orleans. Mitch Herold will start the elimination game for the Knights.
UCF Baseball Game Notes in PDF Format
UCF vs. Southern Miss Recap
The Knights surrendered five first-inning runs to Southern Miss on the opening day of the C-USA Championship May 21. They would strike back for three in the fourth and two in the fifth to even things up, but the Golden Eagles retook the lead for good with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fifth en route to an 8-5 win. Kiko Vazquez, Shane Brown and Robert Lara each collected two hits in the loss.
Bring Me to Life
Senior Tyson Auer served as UCF's best hitter during last season's C-USA Championship at East Carolina. The center fielder posted a .455 mark (5-for-11) with three runs scored and was 3-for-3 on the basepaths. Auer also had two walks and did not strike out in three games played.
Life is a Highway
UCF hurlers have combined to strikeout 530 batters in 503.0 innings of work this season (1.054 Ks per inning). That total is the most amount of Ks for the pitching staff since the 2001 squad recorded a team-record 597 strikeouts in 557.0 innings (1.072 per inning).
Interim Head Coach Craig Cozart
Craig Cozart starting serving as UCF's Interim Head Coach on May 1. He has since guided the Knights to a 4-7 record, highlighted by a 12-1 win over No. 27 Tulane May 4. Cozart came to the Knights as a freshman pitcher and worked four years at UCF from 1993-96 before serving as a student assistant coach in 1997. He then jumped to an assistant coach role in 1998 and was named associate head coach during the summer of 2007.
Postseason Hardware
Junior Colin Arnold picked up two Conference USA postseason awards in his first year with the Knights. The transfer from Daytona Beach Community College was selected to the All-C-USA Second Team, and also earned a spot on the C-USA All-Academic Team. Joining him on the academic squad was redshirt sophomore pitcher, Mitch Houck.
Boom Shake the Room
A year after not going yard, sophomore Shane Brown put eight over the fences during the 2008 regular season, capped off by a two home run performance against Clemson May 17. The third baseman, who started the year at first base, also cranked out a pair of homers vs. UAB May 9. Brown also has 47 RBI, 37 runs and 13 doubles on the campaign.
First-Inning Fireworks
The first inning has been the most productive for offenses in UCF games this season. The Knights have totaled 53 runs in the opening frame, the second most in any inning (56 in the second inning). Meanwhile, opponents have posted 57 first-inning runs, the most in any single inning by a UCF foe.
When UCF does score in the first inning, it claims a 19-6 record, but when an opponent plates at least one run in the first, the Knights are 10-17.
Nothin' But a Good Time
Junior Robert Lara had little trouble adjusting to Conference USA pitchers in his first season at UCF. The catcher paced the Knights in league games with a .358 average, 18 RBI, 15 walks, two sac flies and a .464 on-base percentage. Lara completed the final 15 C-USA games by posting at least one hit in 13 of them.