Feb. 28, 2009
Notes for Sunday's Game in PDF Format
BATON ROUGE, La. (UCFAthletics.com) - Playing in very windy conditions in Baton Rouge, La., the UCF baseball team could not take advantage of early scoring opportunities in an 11-2 loss to No. 1 LSU Saturday. The Knights (2-4) only trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth before the Tigers (6-0) got to the UCF bullpen.
UCF starter Austin Hudson went 4.0 innings with four strikeouts and two earned runs, enabling the Knights to keep it close midway through the game. But it was LSU's six runs in the fifth that sealed its victory.
Leading the Knights' bats, senior Brandon Romans, who sat out the previous three games with an injury, delivered his second homer of the year, while senior Nick Choto and junior Shane Brown had two hits apiece.
First inning walks came back to haunt Hudson, with the Tigers getting on the board right away with a RBI single from Blake Dean. Now faced with runners at the corners and one down, Hudson left them stranded by striking out DJ LeMahieu and Grant Dozar.
Although the Knights picked up a base hit in each of the first two stanzas, LSU hurler Daniel Bradshaw was able to keep them off the scoreboard. When the Tigers' offense returned in their half of the second, Sean Ochinko got it going with a double just inside the third-base bag. Once again Hudson did not back down, earning two strikeouts and a groundout to keep the deficit at 1-0.
Looking to even things up, senior Chadd Hartman got aboard in the third by being plunked on an 0-2 pitch and touched second on a hit-and-run groundout by Choto. Freshman Austin Smith followed with a walk and Brown ripped a 3-1 offering through the left side to load the bases for junior cleanup hitter Chris Duffy. Just like Hudson, Bradshaw survived, using three pitches to strike out Duffy and induced senior Kiko Vazquez to fly out to left.
When LSU had another chance to stretch its lead in the home half, it seized the opportunity and it all started with a leadoff walk to Leon Landry. The Tigers would plate one run and still had runners at first and second with no outs. Hudson, though, earned a fly out and got Ochinko to line into an inning-ending double play.
With Hudson dealing, the offense finally cut into the lead and used the long ball to do it. Leading off the fourth, Romans crushed an 0-1 pitch into the wind in right-center. Yet it still had enough juice on it to go over for Romans' second dinger of 2009. The Knights later would put runners at the corners with two down only to have the rally stall. Eventually facing the LSU bullpen in the fifth, Duffy lined a double to the right-center gap with one down but could not be driven in to tie the game.
Another leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth vs. the UCF pen helped LSU control the game the rest of the way, as the Tigers scored six runs in the frame.
The Black and Gold did connect for a two-out run in the sixth when Hartman drove an 0-2 pitch to right-center for a triple and promptly scored thanks to Choto's RBI single. However, the Tigers struck back for two more their next time at the dish, and increased it to 11-2 with a run in the seventh.
The road trip to Baton Rouge comes to a close with the series finale Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
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.
Game Notes
UCF - 2-4 overall
No. 1 LSU - 6-0 overall
WP: Matty Ott (1-0), 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
LP: Austin Hudson (0-1), 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
-Shane Brown continued to impress at the plate, increasing his average to team-best .385 with two more hits Saturday.
-Senior right fielder Colin Arnold sat out Saturday's game with an injury suffered Friday night. He may return next week.
-In Austin Hudson's last appearance at LSU in 2007, the righty went 3.0 relief innings without giving up an earned run, striking out two and not walking a batter.
-The Knights put runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings Saturday afternoon.
-Freshman Anthony Figliolia did shine in his relief outing, tossing the final 1.1 innings without allowing a hit.