May 6, 2008
TAMPA, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Senior Ryan Richardson recorded a career-high four RBI on a home run and a triple to hand the UCF baseball team a 9-5 triumph over USF in Tampa Tuesday. The win went to reliever Austin Hudson (3-1), who pitched 3.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts for the Knights (29-21).
Freshman Cody Allen made his third career start and went 3.0 innings, striking out three and allowing two earned runs against the Bulls (25-22). Junior Justin Weiss served as the third pitcher after Hudson left in the seventh, and the UCF closer grabbed his seventh save thanks to a 2.1-inning performance.
Helping out the pitching staff, junior Robert Lara was 1-for-3 with two walks and tied a career-high by scoring three runs, while junior Colin Arnold smashed his first homer in a Knight uniform in the victory.
In USF's two previous wins over UCF this year, it plated at least two runs in the first inning. The Bulls tried to continue that trend Tuesday when Ryan Lockwood, who stretched his hitting streak to 28 games, belted a one-out RBI double to left center in the opening frame vs. Allen. Chris Rey added a sacrifice fly to enable the Bulls take a 2-0 lead on just one hit.
Just as quickly as the Bulls plated a pair of runs, USF starter Teddy Kaufman worked into trouble as soon as the second inning got underway. The lefty walked Lara on four pitches, then witnessed Richardson blast a 1-0 offering over the left-field wall for a two-run homer. It was the right fielder's fourth long ball of 2008.
That 2-2 tie held up until the sixth, where back-to-back USF fielding errors put the first two Knights aboard. One of those hitters, Arnold, eventually stole third and touched home as the go-ahead run on a sac fly off the bat of junior Kiko Vazquez. UCF duplicated that effort when senior Tyson Auer swiped third and scored on a fly ball to center from sophomore Shane Brown.
Even though the bases were now empty and there were two outs, the Black and Gold kept rolling. Lara sent Kaufman to the dugout with a single through the left side, and Richardson walked on a full count vs. reliever Zach Pietrzyk. Falling behind 1-2, junior Eric Kallstrom then reached out at an outside pitch to poke a RBI single down the right-field line to hand UCF a 5-2 lead.
USF attempted to climb back into it in the bottom of the seventh, putting runners at the corners with two outs. After Hudson threw one ball to Joey Angelberger, junior Justin Weiss came in from the pen and promptly struck out the USF first baseman on three pitches for the final out.
Richardson sealed the victory in the eighth. Following a one-out single by Brown and a walk to Lara, Richardson dropped a hit into right field that Brian Hobbs tried to make a catch on but saw it skip under his glove and to the fence, permitting the UCF senior to reach third. Now holding a 7-2 cushion, sophomore Chris Duffy delivered a two-out single to center to cap off a three-run inning. Completing the night's scoring for UCF, Arnold took Stephen Hunt deep to right for a solo homer in the top of the ninth. USF did plate three in the bottom half, but could not overcome the deficit.
The Conference USA regular season wraps up for the Knights when they host UAB Friday-Sunday. The series will be crucial for both programs as they try to lock down a spot in the C-USA Championship.
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 - 29-21 Overall, 6-15 Conference USA
USF - 25-22 Overall, 10-11 Big East
WP: Austin Hudson (3-1), 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
LP: Teddy Kaufman (3-2), 5.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
SV: Justin Weiss (7), 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
- Tuesday's contest marked the 100th meeting between UCF and USF.
- UCF and USF split the four-game series this year, 2-2, with each going 1-1 at home.
- Former UCF Knight and Division I All-American Justin Pope was in attendance in Tampa. Pope has been spending time in Clearwater at the Philadelphia Phillies spring training complex rehabbing from an injury. Through five games so far with the Double-A Reading Phillies, the righty has a 0.00 ERA with four strikeouts in 5.0 innings.
- Ryan Richardson's two-run home run in the second was the first non-solo dinger for UCF since Chris Duffy had a two-run job at Marshall April 20.
- Robert Lara threw out a runner on the bases for the second time in three games when he nabbed Ryan Lockwood in the third inning.
- Tyson Auer stole his 77th career base to claim sole possession of third on the UCF all-time list. The senior also notched his 218th career hit to grab sole possession of ninth in the program's record book.
- Eric Kallstrom went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
- UCF pitchers faced the minimum three batters in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. - The 2.1 innings were the most Justin Weiss had pitched in a game when he posted a save.