April 2, 2009
ORLANDO (UCFAthletics.com) - A five-game road trip gets underway for the UCF baseball team when it travels to Memphis this weekend. The Knights are slated to open up their Conference USA series with the Tigers Friday at 11 a.m. ET at AutoZone Park, where the St. Louis Cardinals and their Triple-A affiliate Memphis Redbirds will play exhibition games Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Schedule:
Friday - Memphis, Tenn. - 11 a.m.
Saturday - Memphis, Tenn. - 7 p.m.
Sunday - Memphis, Tenn. - 1 p.m.
Records:
Memphis - 10-16 Overall, 2-4 C-USA
UCF - 8-20 Overall, 0-6 C-USA
Stadium:
AutoZone Park (12,512)
Series:
Memphis leads, 7-3
Live Stats:
UCFAthletics.com
UCF vs. North Florida Recap
The Knights used an eight-pitcher attack and the staff surrendered just two runs in an 8-2 win over North Florida April 1. Kyle Sweat opened it up with 2.0 shutout innings while six other hurlers also did not give up a run in their outing. Offensively, Shane Brown pummeled UNF with four hits, a double, a homer, two RBI and three runs scored, while Colin Arnold scored three runs as the leadoff hitter.
Upcoming Opponent
Coming off an extra-inning loss to No. 15 Ole Miss, Memphis stands at 10-16 overall and has a 2-4 record in C-USA thanks to wins over Marshall and No. 2 Rice. The Tigers are paced by 1B/RF Trey Wiedman who claims a .369 average and 18 RBI, and overall the offense has swiped 32 bases. On the mound, UCF may face three junior hurlers in LHP Brennon Martin (3-1, 3.51), Ryan Fraser (2-3, 5.81) and Brach Davis (1-3, 7.67), who all received starts against Rice last weekend and have each started six games this year.
The Series
UCF and Memphis first met when the Knights joined C-USA in 2006, and the Tigers have gone on to post a 7-3 overall lead in the series. The only time the two clubs played in Tennessee, the Black and Gold posted a 9-6 win in game one before dropping the final two games in 2007.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
As UCF gets the second half of the regular-season underway, let's take a look at where some of the Knights rank in Conference USA entering the weekend:
Brandon Romans: T2nd Homers, 4th Slugging %
Shane Brown: 8th Batting Average, 9th Doubles
Cory Weech: 1st Appearances and Relief App.
Justin Weiss: T2nd Saves
Eric Kallstrom: T5th Assists
Time After Time
A pair of hitting streaks remain alive as UCF gets set to rumble with Memphis Friday. Junior Shane Brown has built his career-best streak to 19 games dating back to March 4 at FIU, and that ranks in a tie for the second-longest in UCF history. During this stretch, Brown has gone 28-for-70 for a .400 average.
Meanwhile, Colin Arnold holds an 11-game streak going back to March 17 vs. Army, which is three games shy of his career-long performance set last year. The senior outfielder has hit .364 with 11 runs scored and four doubles over the course of his streak.
Rhythm of the Night
UCF's game plan vs. North Florida worked on April 1, where the Knights used an eight-pitcher system to down the Ospreys, 8-2. Kyle Sweat got it started with 2.0 shutout innings, and six other hurlers blanked UNF in their respective outings as well. Freshman Jordan Rasinski earned the win when he struck out the side in the fifth inning. Combined, the eight Knights did not issue a walk and struck out eight.
The bullpen had another stellar performance against Jacksonville March 24, as it went 8.2 innings, allowing only two earned runs and striking out nine.
UCF's All-Time Best Hitting Streaks
Shane Brown has cracked the all-time UCF hit streak list with his current 19-game stretch. Here's UCF's longest streaks in program history:
Player - Streak and Dates
1. Mike Myers - 26 - 4/3/01 - 5/19/01
2. Shane Brown - 19 - 3/4/09 - current
Clay Timpner - 19 - 2/13/04 - 3/17/04
Ryan Bear - 19 - 3/1/03 - 3/29/03
Adam Johnson - 19 - 4/30/94 - 2/26/95
6. Kiko Vazquez - 17 - 4/20/07 - 5/18/07