Oct. 20, 2009
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The Knights ventured to the ballpark early Tuesday morning as the UCF baseball program held its annual scout day to wrap up its third week of fall camp. In all, over 30 Major League Baseball scouts attended the event.
The Black and Gold has had several players on its current roster previously selected in the MLB Draft:
-Junior Alex Besaw - 32nd round by Tampa Bay in 2009
-Junior J.M. Blake - 32nd round by San Francisco in 2008
-RS Sophomore Stephen Branca - 34th round by Minnesota in 2007
-Senior Shane Brown - 47th round by New York (AL) in 2009
-Junior Owen Dew - 33rd round by Los Angeles (AL) in 2009
-Senior Chris Duffy - 9th round by Chicago (AL) in 2006
-Junior Jonathan Griffin - 41st round by Minnesota in 2007 and 45 th round by Boston in 2008
-Sophomore D.J. Hicks - 49th round by San Francisco in 2008
-Freshman Ronnie Richardson - 11th round by Minnesota in 2009
-Freshman Darnell Sweeney - 41st round by Florida in 2009
After some stretching to open the day, the Knights ran some timed wind sprints followed by defensive drills, which included the scouts taking a looking at the arms of the outfielders as well as the handy work of the infielders. Catchers Beau Taylor, Chris Taladay and Ryan Breen then demonstrated their quickness at throwing to second base.
A little batting practice was next for UCF before it kicked off its four-inning scrimmage. After a scoreless first, Gray got on the board first with a RBI single from Ryan Breen that plated Anthony Caronia. Still with no outs, Michael Holmes made it second and third by way of a double to left, and Ronnie Richardson pushed the lead to 2-0 on an infield base hit. Gray completed the inning with a run-scoring groundout from Chris Duffy.
Gray piled on in the last inning when Duffy started the stanza with a double into right-center. Eventually with two in scoring position and one out, Breen stretched it to 5-0 on a single into left, and with two down, Richardson kept the inning alive with a single to right. Duffy strode back to the plate and promptly drove in one on a base hit, as did Caronia, which would be the 10th and final hit of the morning as Gray posted the 7-0 win.
The Knights used eight pitchers who tossed one inning each in the scrimmage. Working for the Gold squad were juniors Owen Dew, Chase Bradford and Johnny Sedlock and senior Matt Manning. For the Gray team, juniors Brennan Dobbins and J.M. Blake, senior Matt Goodyear and junior Nick Cicio saw time on the hill.
UCF is gearing up for the Black and Gold World Series in early November. The first two games will take place at 8:15 a.m. Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, while the third and final contest is a Friday night affair, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. Admission will be free.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.