March 1, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. (UCFAthletics.com) - On another chilly day in Baton Rouge, the UCF baseball team suffered a 16-0 loss at No. 1 LSU Sunday. The Tigers (7-0) plated eight runs in the first inning, as the Knights saw their record fall to 2-5 on the season.
Junior Chris Duffy kept his impressive season-opening hitting streak alive for the Black and Gold by pounding out two more hits. The outfielder has registered at least one base hit in all seven games this year.
A leadoff single by Leon Landry in the top of the first enabled LSU to jump on the board early. The center fielder would steal second and advance to third on a wild pitch from freshman starter D.J. Hicks. After a walk and another stolen base put runners in scoring position with no outs, the Tigers went on to score eight times highlighted by three-run homers from Jared Mitchell and Landry. Four of those runs were unearned.
The Tigers padded to their lead in the next two innings off reliever Caleb Graham, stretching it to 14-0 on six runs.
LSU's offense was quieted when UCF closer Justin Weiss made his first appearance of the weekend. The right-handed sidearmer tossed scoreless fifth and sixth innings, striking out four.
Senior Jaager Good replaced Weiss in the seventh and was perfect, sitting down all three batters including notching a strikeout. But LSU tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth against freshman Anthony Figliolia for the final scoring margin.
Before welcoming Monmouth to Orlando next weekend, the Knights head to Florida International for a midweek tilt Wednesday at 6 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.
Game Notes
UCF - 2-5 overall
No. 1 LSU - 7-0 overall
WP: Austin Ross (2-0), 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K
LP: D.J. Hicks (0-1), 1.0 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
-The four strikeouts by reliever Justin Weiss in his two scoreless innings of work were one shy of his career-high.
-Sunday's game marked the first outing this year that the Knights did not hit a home run.
-Freshman catcher Beau Taylor picked up his first-collegiate hit when he doubled to the warning track in right-center on a 3-1 pitch from reliever Louis Coleman in the eighth inning.
-UCF pitchers struck out a season-high 14 against the Tigers Sunday.
-After UCF and Florida International played each other every season-opening weekend from 2001-07, the two clubs did not meet in 2008. But Wednesday's clash will renew their rivalry, as it will be the 93rd game between the two teams.