March 18, 2011
| UCF vs. Columbia March 18, 2011 |
| From Orlando, Fla. | |||||
| Team | R | H | E | ||
| Columbia | 8 | 10 | 3 | ||
| UCF | 9 | 10 | 3 | ||
WP: Brown (1-1), 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
LP: Lowery (0-2), 5.0 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 7 K
SV: Rogers (2), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Game-Changing Moment
Beau Taylor put UCF ahead at 6-4 with a two-run single in the fifth, but it was Joe Rogers who kept Columbia at bay. With the Knights up 9-6, runners at second and third and no outs, the lefty retired the next three Lions without allowing a run.
Three Stars
First: UCF RP Bryan Brown, WP, 5.0 IP, 0 BB, 7 K
Second: UCF Ronnie Richardson, 1-for-2, 3 RBI, 2 R
Third: UCF 2B Travis Shreve, 3-for-5, 3 R, SB
Saturday Preview in PDF Format
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF plated five runs in the fifth inning to erase a 4-2 deficit in a 9-8 victory over Columbia Friday, ending the Lions' (7-4) five-game winning streak. The Knights (14-4) received an impressive relief outing from Bryan Brown (Winter Springs, Fla.), who had career-highs with 5.0 innings and seven strikeouts, while not walking a batter for the win.
"The story of the game was Bryan Brown. He did an unbelievable job for us and was the MVP tonight," said head coach Terry Rooney. "We talk about this so many times how games are about momentum. And I thought Columbia had a lot of momentum early. But then Bryan put up zeros and gave us the momentum. That allowed our team offensively to stay calm and we obviously chipped away."
Brown finished his outing by allowing only one earned run on five hits.
"A couple of days ago coach Rooney and I had a bullpen together. I made some adjustments and I felt really good about my stuff," said Brown who moved to 1-1 on the season. "The best thing I try to do is slow everything down. I really just try to shift the balance to our side and keep (opposing hitters) off balance"
Batting as the cleanup hitter for the first time in his career, sophomore Ronnie Richardson was 1-for-2 with three RBI, two runs and two walks. Meanwhile, leadoff hitter Travis Shreve pounded out three hits and scored three runs, and Darnell Sweeney went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a pair of runs.
After Columbia manufactured a run off Danny Winkler in the top of the first, UCF put the first three aboard in the home half against righty Pat Lowery. With the bases juiced, Richardson sent a two-run single into left, and the Knights still had two runners on the bases. However Lowery limited the damage to just those two runs.
With the opportunity for more runs lost, UCF watched as the Lions tied it back up in the second on a single, two-base error and passed ball. Later in the inning, Mike Fischer crushed a two-run homer over the left-field wall and it was quickly 4-2 visitors.
UCF struggled to put more pressure on Lowery until the fifth inning as Shreve and Sweeney pounded out back-to-back singles and Chris Taladay was plunked with one out. Richardson returned once again to fill the bases only this time drew a walk to score the inning's first run, and Sweeney scampered home on a wild pitch.
The inning certainly was not over. Even though Beau Taylor fell behind 0-2, he battled back to load the bases before ripping a two-run single into center. To close out the frame, Lowery gift-wrapped the last run by throwing the ball away on a pickoff attempt and permitting Taylor to touch home on his second wild pitch.
Although Jason Banos cut it to 7-5 in the sixth with a solo homer, UCF answered in the home half vs. reliever Tim Giel when Sweeney sent a two-out, 1-2 pitch into right, driving in Shreve from second. One inning later, the lead rose to 9-5 and Richardson was of course involved, walking to leadoff the stanza and traveled around the bases on a pair of errors.
Besides the solo homer he surrendered in the sixth, Brown cruised through his outing only to start to tire in the eighth. Following a hit batsman and a single, a fielding error made it 9-6 and brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out. In stepped UCF closer Joe Rogers who promptly stranded runners at second and third with no outs to keep the Knights ahead by three runs.
Columbia and the UCF defense made things interesting in the ninth where the Lions brought in a pair of unearned runs to cut it to 9-8, yet Rogers got Banos swinging on a 3-2 offering to grab his second save of 2011.
The second game of the three-game series will get underway Saturday at 4 p.m. while the finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
Game Notes
Columbia - 7-4 Overall
UCF - 14-4 Overall
-Head coach Terry Rooney tweaked the top five batters in the order for the first time all season Friday. After Travis Shreve led off, Darnell Sweeney was second followed by Chris Taladay, Ronnie Richardson and Beau Taylor.
-The Knights had six-straight games where the starting pitcher went at least 6.0 innings. However Danny Winkler lasted just 2.0 innigs Friday.
-Junior Travis Shreve swiped his 16th base of the year.
-After not making an error the previous three games, UCF committed three in game one with the Lions.
-A total of 11 of UCF's 14 victories have occurred when the Knights had 10 or more hits (both teams had 10 hits Friday).
-At 3:02, it was UCF's longest game since Feb. 26 vs. Southeastern Louisiana (3:06).