Oct. 19, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Over 300 fans came out for game one of the UCF baseball Black & Gold World Series Sunday at Jay Bergman Field to watch Black earn a 5-2 victory in the five-inning scrimmage. Senior Brandon Romans' two-run shot in a four-run third inning ended up being the difference in the win.
"For the past week, my knee has been feeling a lot better. I had surgery on it about three weeks ago, had my knee scoped, and I've been feeling better every day," said Romans. "It certainly felt good after hitting that home run. It was a fastball up and away and I just got a good barrel on it and it kept carrying. We had a great crowd out here and good atmosphere under the lights. That helped get the juices going."
Junior Chris Duffy paced all Knights offensively, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a run scored for the Black side. Both teams combined for 12 hits, half of which were doubles.
Junior Austin Hudson got the start for Black and immediately escaped a jam in the first, inducing freshman D.J. Hicks to ground into an inning-ending double play with runners at first and third.
The best defensive play of the night came in the bottom of the first courtesy of one of UCF's eight freshmen. Facing senior Caleb Graham who started for Gold, sophomore Stephen Branca blooped a potential one-out single into right-center. However, B.J. Zimmerman raced in from his right field position, laid out and made the diving snag.
However, the next time Black stepped to the plate, it took advantage of a throwing error with one away to take a 1-0 lead. With a runner at first, potential walk-on Alex Friedrich laced a 2-1 offering the opposite way to right field for extra bases and the game's first run.
Back-to-back doubles to open the top of the third erased Black's 1-0 advantage. Freshman Jake Huxtable led off with a two-bagger that fell just out of the reach of center fielder Colin Arnold, and junior Kyle Mills hit the right-center gap with a double of his own to tie it up. Gold continued its offense when freshman Austin Smith laced a single to right, and it grabbed the lead on a fielding error with senior Josh Siebenaler at the dish.
The scoring continued for Black in its half, as they struck for four of their own for a 5-2 cushion. Branca jump-started the offense by stretching a single into a double, and two batters later, junior Chris Duffy brought him in a double as well. Now knotted up at 2-2, Romans delivered a huge blow, sending the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall for a two-run homer. Black padded to its lead on a two-out RBI single by senior Nick Choto.
After a scoreless fourth, sophomore Brennan Dobbins picked up the save by retiring Gold in order in the fifth and final inning.
It will be Breakfast at The Berg for games two and three, as the series continues Monday with first pitch scheduled for 9 a.m.
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Game Notes
UCF Gold - 2 R, 5 H, 1 E
UCF Black - 5 R, 7 H, 1 E
WP: Austin Hudson - 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
LP: Caleb Graham - 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
SV: Brennan Dobbins - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Also pitched for Gold: Matt Goodyear - 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
- B.J. Zimmerman may have earned the top web gem of the night, but second baseman Nick Choto came in second and third when he made consecutive defensive highlights in the top of the fourth, robbing both Zimmerman and Beau Taylor of sure hits.
- Eric Kallstrom went 1-for-2 with a run scored for Black.
-The bottom three hitters for Black, Kallstrom, Alex Friedrich (potential walk-on) and Nick Choto, combined to go 3-for-5 with two RBI.
- Austin Smith, Josh Siebenaler, Kiko Vazquez, Jake Huxtable and Kyle Mills posted one hit apiece for Gold.