March 30, 2009
ORLANDO (UCFAthletics.com) - The halfway point of the regular season has fallen on the UCF baseball team as it travels to Stetson Tuesday and hosts North Florida Wednesday. Both games kick off at 6:30 p.m., with the contest in DeLand airing on Bright House Sports Network. Tom Morgan and Dennis Rasmussen will be back to call the action, which is broadcast on tape-delay at 8 p.m. on BHSN and live on CSS. Meanwhile, both games will feature live audio on UCFAthletics.com.
Updated game notes for the UCF-North Florida contest will be available online early Wednesday morning
Schedule:
Tuesday at Stetson - DeLand, Fla. - 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday vs. North Florida - Orlando, Fla. - 6:30 p.m.
Records:
Stetson - 10-17 Overall, 3-6 Atlantic Sun
North Florida - 10-16 Overall, 4-6 Atlantic Sun
UCF - 7-20 Overall, 0-6 C-USA
Stadium:
Tuesday: Melching Field at Conrad Park (2,500)
Wednesday: Jay Bergman Field (2,230)
Series:
UCF leads Stetson, 62-48
North Florida leads UCF, 6-3
Live Stats:
UCFAthletics.com
Live Audio:
UCFAthletics.com
Wednesday Live Video:
UCFAthletics.com
Tuesday TV:
Bright House Sports Network - Tape-Delay to 8 p.m.
Play-by-Play - Tom Morgan
Color - Dennis Rasmussen
UCF vs. Southern Miss Recap
Southern Miss walked away with a sweep of the Knights last weekend in Conference USA action. The Golden Eagles scored three runs in the final two innings to take game one, 6-3, then scored early in the final two outings to complete the weekend. Colin Arnold led all UCF players with five hits vs. USM while Beau Taylor collected four RBI.
Upcoming Opponent
Dropping two of three at home to Kennesaw State, Stetson enters Tuesday with a 10-17 record. The Hatters hold a .298 team batting average with five consistent starters hitting over .300, led by Casey Frawley's .377 mark. Going yard, Stetson has hit 22 balls over the fence with the majority of them coming from Frawley (six) and Jeremy Cruz (eight). Toeing the rubber, the pitching staff claims a 5.78 ERA with 188 strikeouts and 86 walks in 240.0 innings.
The Series
UCF grabbed wins in both games against Stetson a year ago. Former Knights Tyson Auer and Dwayne Bailey each posted three hits and current senior Caleb Graham was sharp on the hill in a 7-3 win in DeLand, and in Orlando, future draft pick Mitch Herold tossed a complete-game three hitter in a 4-1 victory. That enabled UCF to take a 62-48 lead in the all-time series.
Time After Time
A pair of hitting streaks are in double-digits as UCF gets set to take on Stetson Tuesday. Junior Shane Brown has built his career-best streak to 18 games dating back to March 4 at FIU, and that ranks as the fifth-longest in UCF history. With a hit in his next game he would move into a four-way tie for second. During this stretch, Brown has gone 24-for-65 for a .369 average.
Meanwhile, Colin Arnold holds a 10-game streak going back to March 17 vs. Army, which is four games shy of his career-long performance set last year. The senior outfielder has hit .366 with eight runs scored and four doubles over the course of his streak.
Rock On
UCF reached the 30 home run mark when Beau Taylor launched a three-run blast vs. Southern Miss March 28. A total of eight different Knights have hit at least two dingers this year, led by Brandon Romans' eight and Kiko Vazquez's five. With 30 homers only 27 games into the season, this year's squad already has eclipsed (or approaching) season totals from recent years:
2009 - 30 in 27 Games Played
2008 - 42 in 58 GP
2007 - 25 in 59 GP
2006 - 31 in 56 GP
2005 - 63 in 60 GP
2004 - 27 in 65 GP
2003 - 21 in 56 GP
2002 - 30 in 63 GP