Nov. 5, 2009
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Sophomore Jake Huxtable gave his Gold squad a walk-off victory in game two of the Black & Gold World Series Thursday morning, lining a single into right-center for the 5-4 win. That now sets up the third and deciding game under the lights Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, and the UCF ticket office will be on hand with season ticket information for the 2010 campaign.
In the six-inning scrimmage, Gold was outhit by Black (which was wearing its Gray uniforms), 8-7, but picked up two hits apiece from Kevin Vasquez and Chris Duffy. Duffy completed his day 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs and a walk.
Jonathan Griffin and Ronnie Richardson came up big for Black. Griffin went 2-for-4 with a first-inning homer, while Richardson was 2-for-5 with another stolen base and two runs.
Just like game one, Richardson sparked the Black team in the first inning, sending a two-strike single to right and stealing second off starting pitcher Bryan Brown. Richardson later would reach third with two outs and promptly scored the first run on a wild pitch with Griffin batting. Although Griffin may have wanted to drive in that run himself, he decided to get an RBI another way, driving a 3-2 offering over the left-center wall for a 2-0 lead.
That would quickly be erased. Facing lefty Nick Cicio, Shane Brown drew a leadoff walk and Vasquez put runners at the corners by sending the first pitch he saw up the middle for a base hit. Duffy then dug in and took an outside pitch into the left-center gap for a two-run double.
Gold continued to add to its lead in the second and it was all thanks to Vasquez, who singled with one down, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.
After going scoreless in the second and third innings, Black stepped in for the fourth against righty Scott Robinson and it was Richardson once again getting things going, ripping a base hit up the middle. Anthony Caronia followed with a single as well, and when Richardson reached third on an errant pickoff throw, he touched home by way of a Darnell Sweeney groundout. With two down, Black kept working, getting a single from Griffin, who took second on a wild pitch and scored thanks to a Chris Taladay base hit.
Now all tied up at 4-4 and in the bottom of the sixth, the final inning of the game, Jack Sterritt entered and issued a walk to Duffy. With Ryan Breen batting, Duffy took off on Sterritt's second offering, stealing second to get into scoring position with no outs. Breen pushed his teammate to third with a single between first and second, setting up a righty-righty situation as reliever J.M. Blake entered to face Huxtable. The sophomore took the count to 1-1 before placing an opposite-field single to right-center, sealing Gold's victory.
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Game Notes
WP: Joe Rogers, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
LP: Jack Sterritt, 0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Also Pitched for Black:
- Nick Cicio, 2.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
- Jordan Rasinski, 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
- J.M. Blake, 0.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Also Pitched for Gold:
- Bryan Brown, 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
- Scott Robinson, 1.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
- Matt Manning, 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 0K
Defensive Only Players: Matt Manning played right field and Alex Friedrich played first base for Gold.
Defensive Only Players: Friedrich, Jordan Rasinski and Jack Sterritt played the corner outfield spots for Black.
-Ronnie Richardson, Darnell Sweeney, Kevin Vasquez and Chris Duffy all stole a base Thursday.
-Along with Richardson and Griffin, Chris Taladay posted two hits for Black.