Feb. 10, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF baseball team continued progressing towards Opening Day Feb. 20 with a five-inning scrimmage Tuesday. Senior Caleb Graham looked strong from the mound, tossing five scoreless innings, issuing one walk and giving up six singles.
Shane Brown (Gray) and D.J. Hicks (Black) each collected a pair of hits in the afternoon to lead each side's offensive production.
With the game starting in the fifth inning, the Gray squad totaled two hits in each of its first three frames, including a pair of singles from Brown. In two of those innings, head coach Terry Rooney decided to keep Graham on the mound to face a few more hitters. But even though the workload was building, Graham never let a runner touch home.
On the hill for Gray, Matt Goodyear faced seven hitters in two innings of work, giving up just one hit with four of his six outs being fly balls to center.
Bryan Brown then came in for the bottom of the seventh and Black connected for the first run of the game. Following a leadoff single from Kyle Mills, Beau Taylor pushed him to second on a ground ball with Mills moving on the play two batters later. With two down, Hicks lined a 2-1 offering into right-center to drive in Mills for the 1-0 Black lead. Brown did face runners at first and second later in the inning but used a nasty breaking ball to get a strikeout and end the threat.
Graham had little trouble getting through innings eight and nine, his fourth and fifth innings of the day. After getting the first three outs of the eight, he stayed out and gave up a walk before picking up a fielder's choice and returning to the dugout. In the ninth, Graham retired all four batters he faced on a pop up on three ground outs.
Finishing off the last two stanzas for Gray, Cory Weech faced the minimum three batters in the eighth, giving way to Anthony Figliolia in the bottom of the ninth. Even though Black had a 1-0 lead coming up to the plate, the score was switched so it would have a 1-0 deficit, forcing Figliolia to earn a save for Gray and Black to attempt a comeback.
Black's first batter, Stephen Branca, was plunked as Josh Siebenaler came on as a pinch-runner. Taylor sacrificed him over to second before Hicks notched an infield single to third base and Evan Stobbs reached on an error. With the bases juiced and one down, Jake Huxtable ripped a RBI single to center, however Figliolia easily picked up the next two outs to close out the scrimmage.
One note from Sunday's intra-squad, Taylor continued to impress with the stick by sending two balls over the fence in the game.
The Knights will welcome Virginia Commonwealth to town for a four-game series starting Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Baseball season and single game tickets are on sale now for the 2009 campaign. Call the UCF Ticket Office at (407) 823-1000 for more information. Fans may also visit UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, and is the home of UCF's online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Lineups and Stats for UCF's Scrimmage on Feb. 10GrayRF Colin Arnold - 1-4SS Eric Kallstrom - 0-33B Shane Brown - 2-3LF Chris Duffy - 1-2, BB1B Kiko Vazquez - 0-3C Brandon Romans - 0-3CF Austin Smith - 1-32B Nick Choto - 1-3
Pitchers (Innings sometimes last longer or shorter than three outs)SP Matt Goodyear - 7 BF, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 KRP Bryan Brown - 6 BF, 1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 KRP Cory Weech - 3 BF, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 KRP Anthony Figliolia -7 BF, 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
BlackDH Stephen Branca - 0-2, HBPC Beau Taylor - 0-2, SAC1B D.J. Hicks - 2-3, RBILF Evan Stobbs - 1-33B Jake Huxtable - 1-3, RBIRF B.J. Zimmerman - 1-3CF Chadd Hartman - 0-3SS Kyle Mills - 1-1, R, BB2B Josh Siebenaler - Defense only, pinch-runner in the ninth, R
Pitcher (Innings sometimes last longer or shorter than three outs)SP Caleb Graham - 25 BF, 5 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
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