Sept. 28, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Fall practices continued to roll on for the UCF baseball team as it opened up its second week on the diamond Sunday. Week one consisted of scrimmages on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, while the remaining practices featured team fundamentals, including team defense and batting practice.
"I thought the energy and intensity was very good early in the week," said assistant coach Cliff Godwin. "We lost a little bit of focus later in the week but we got it back on Friday. The scrimmages helped our pitchers get their work in, while we are trying to teach the guys how we want them to play the game, and that's with a lot of enthusiasm and energy."
The threat of rain forced the Knights to open Sunday with their scrimmage (for game stats, see below) following some light defensive work. Similar to last Sunday, senior Jaager Good faced off with junior Austin Hudson on the hill, but this time the intra-squad would last six innings. Black was first to strike against Hudson in the opening frame on a RBI single from freshman B.J. Zimmerman. Junior Chris Duffy then strode to the plate with runners at first and second and one out, but shattered his aluminum bat by lining a double-play ball to short.
Gold responded in the top of the second but it almost came with nasty consequences. Sophomore Stephen Branca sent a ball into the right-center gap where senior center fielder Colin Arnold and Zimmerman in right collided trying to make the catch. Branca reached third on the triple, and after several minutes on the grass, both fielders got up and stayed in the game. Branca eventually scored on a sac fly off the bat of freshman Jake Huxtable.
Senior Eric Kallstrom, who was playing second base compared to his usual spot at shortstop, opened the bottom half for Black with a single up the middle, stole second and came around on a base hit by freshman Beau Taylor. Gold tallied another run in the top of the third after Nick Choto's leadoff triple led to a RBI groundout from freshman Austin Smith.
Now even at 2-2 and junior Matt Goodyear pitching for Black and sophomore Evan Stobbs dealing for Gold, junior Kyle Mills gave Gold the lead on a RBI groundout in the fourth, and Huxtable made it 4-2 thanks to a two-out RBI base hit in the fifth. Black greeted Stobbs in the bottom of the fifth with a run of its own on a two-out run-scoring single by Taylor.
But Gold put it away in the final frame as the first three hitters reached base, and all of them came around to score to bring it to 7-3. Black did add an unearned run in the its half, but the lead was too much to overcome.
Taylor finished as the game's leading hitter, going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI for Black. Kallstrom, Zimmerman and freshman D.J. Hicks also had multiple-hit affairs for the squad. On the Gold side, Huxtable, Branca, senior Chadd Hartman and freshman Austin Smith all posted two hits each.
Afterwards, the Knights worked on baserunning drills to close out the evening practice.
UCF is currently preparing for its 2009 season-opener Feb. 20 at home vs. Virginia Commonwealth. Ticket information and the full schedule will be released at a later date.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
UCF Gold Statistics
Austin Smith, CF - 2-4, RBI, R, SB
Chadd Hartman, LF - 2-4, RBI, R, SB
Shane Brown, 1B - 1-3, BB, R
Kiko Vazquez, C - 0-4
Evan Stobbs, DH/P - 0-1
Stephen Branca, 2B - 2-3, 3B, 2 R, 2 SB, RBI
Jake Huxtable, 3B - 2-3, 2 RBI
Kyle Mills, SS - 0-3 RBI
Nick Choto, RF - 1-2, 3B, BB, 2 R
Austin Hudson, SP - 3.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 BB
Evan Stobbs, RP - 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 BB
UCF Black Statistics
Colin Arnold, CF - 1-4, SB
Josh Siebenaler, SS - 1-4, 2 R
D.J. Hicks, 1B - 2-4
B.J. Zimmerman, RF - 2-4, RBI
Chris Duffy, 3B - 0-2, 2 BB, R
Eric Kallstrom, 2B - 2-3, SB, R
Beau Taylor, C - 3-3, 2 RBI
Walk-On, LF - 0-2
Jaager Good, SP - 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 0 BB
Matt Goodyear, RP - 3.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 K, 3 BB