May 9, 2008
Saturday's Game Two Preview in PDF Format
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - With the wind blowing out to center all night long, it was a hitters' paradise Friday at Jay Bergman Field and the UCF baseball team somehow found a way to pull out a victory over UAB in game one of the crucial three-game Conference USA series. Trailing 9-3 after three innings and 12-11 through 10, the Knights (30-21, 7-15) came back each time to earn the 13-12 extra-inning win over the Blazers (20-30, 4-15).
Senior Tyson Auer dealt the first major blow to UAB by sending a two-out, three-run homer to the opposite field in the seventh to tie it up at 10-10. Following a Ryan Keedy dinger in the top of the eighth that gave the Blazers an 11-10 edge, sophomore Shane Brown answered by leading off the home half with a solo shot as well.
In the ninth, both teams put the go-ahead run at third only to fail to score, but UAB retook the lead on a one-out RBI single off the bat of Luke Stewart in the 10th. With the Blazer dugout looking for just three more outs, Brown needed only two pitches to once again even things up as he drilled a 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence to kick off the bottom half of the frame. Not settling for a tie, senior Ryan Richardson blooped a one-out base hit into right-center and legged it out for a double. Following a balk from Robert Brewster, junior Eric Kallstrom lined a 1-2 offering up the middle with the infield playing in to allow the UCF fans to begin celebrating.
"The home run to right-center (in the eighth) was a fastball right down the middle and I hit it off my face on the scoreboard and that felt good," said Brown, a native of Winter Park. "So that was big, and the last one was another fastball that I put a good swing on. We knew we were never out of it. We put together a lot of hits and runs and pulled it out. It was awesome and a lot of fun."
It was the fourth time this season that a Knight cranked out two homers in a game, and it was the first time Brown went yard twice in his two-year career in a Black and Gold uniform. Along with Brown and Auer, Kallstrom delivered a solo shot in the second to give him four for the 2008 campaign. The shortstop now has four long balls in each of his three seasons at UCF.
Auer finished with a pair of hits, three RBI and two runs scored, Brown went 3-for-4 and amassed three RBI and two runs and senior Dwayne Bailey recorded three hits and a pair of runs. Kallstrom, Richardson and junior Colin Arnold also notched two hits apiece.
All nine Knight starters picked up a hit as UCF tied a season-high by cranking out 18 on the night. The Knights also racked up 12 extra-base knocks, including eight doubles from eight different players. Combined with UAB's 22 hits, Friday evening saw a total of 40 hits scatter across the ballpark. Jonathan Merritt paced the Blazers with a 4-for-5 performance, while the top five UAB hitters posted 15 of those 22 hits.
Out of the UCF bullpen, junior Caleb Graham allowed just one earned run in 4.1 innings of work, striking out five and walking only one. Classmate Justin Weiss (2-1) secured the win by tossing the final 2.0 innings with three strikeouts.
Game two of UCF's final C-USA series gets underway Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The Knights currently sit in seventh place as the top eight teams advance to 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
UAB - 20-30 Overall, 4-15 Conference USA
UCF - 30-21 Overall, 7-15 Conference USA
WP: Justin Weiss (2-1), 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
LP: Robert Brewster (1-1), 2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
- Colin Arnold, Kiko Vazquez, Robert Lara, Dwayne Bailey, Chadd Hartman, Brandon Romans, Ryan Richardson and Shane Brown all collected doubles. The eight two-baggers set a season-high, and were just two short of tying a program record for doubles in a game.
- Arnold's double in the fourth inning was his team-leading 16th of 2008.
- Brown moved into a tie for eighth on the UCF single-season list by recording his sixth sacrifice fly of the year. Brown also was hit by a pitch for the 14th time, giving him sole possession of seventh.
- Ryan Richardson picked up stolen base No. 10 with a steal of second in the seventh inning. He moved to 22-for-23 in his two-year career with the Knights.
- UAB's 22 hits were the most by a UCF opponent this season.
- Friday was the third-straight contest UCF posted double-digit hits, and the 10th time it notched 15 hits or more.
- The only inning that neither team scored a run in both the top half and the bottom half was the ninth.
- UCF was issued five walks and struck out just four times, which marked the 10th occasion that Knight batters walked more than they struck out.
- Brennan Dobbins hurled 0.2 scoreless innings from the pen.
- Kyle Sweat got the start and went 3.0 innings, surrendering seven earned runs while striking out two.
- UCF's record in extra-inning games improved to 56-35-1.
- The Knights ended a five-game losing streak to the Blazers.
- The 30 victories this year are the most since 2005, UCF's last year in the Atlantic Sun.
- UCF committed just one error Friday. It has now made one miscue or less in seven-straight games.