April 30, 2011
| UCF vs. Houston April 30, 2011 |
| From Orlando, Fla. | |||||
| Team | R | H | E | ||
| Houston | 5 | 8 | 0 | ||
| UCF | 0 | 6 | 2 | ||
WP: Lewis (5-1), 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K
LP: Hanson (3-2), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
SV: None
Game-Changing Moment
The Cougars put the game away in the fourth with three runs, started up by singles from Joel Ansley and John Cannon. Landon Appling then delivered a huge blow with a RBI double and UH controlled momentum the rest of the way.
Three Stars
First: UH SP Jordan Lewis, WP, CG, 7 K
Second: UH CF Landon Appling, 1-for-3, RBI, 2B, R
Third: UH C John Cannon, 1-for-2, 2 BB, caught the shutout win
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF baseball fell behind early and could not solve Houston starter Jordan Lewis in a 5-0 loss Saturday. The Knights, who dropped to 27-16 on the year and 7-10 in Conference USA, will have one more attempt to win the series Sunday.
"You have to tip your hat to (Jordan Lewis). He pitched a very good game against us. Now we have to move on," said head coach Terry Rooney. "But I'm very proud of the effort of Chase Bradford to come out of the pen and put up all of those zeroes. He did a tremendous job."
Game two vs. the Cougars (21-23, 8-6) was Military Appreciation Night, as SSG William Castillo threw out the first pitch as part of the Wounded Warrior Project.
Jonathan Griffin and Chris Taladay each had two hits for the Black and Gold, and Darnell Sweeney contributed his team-leading 15th double of the season.
An infield hit in the first inning by Houston's Ryan Still eventually gave the Cougars the quick lead, as Still stole second and third and touched home on a wild pitch by UCF starter Ray Hanson. The righty only lasted two innings, with Bradford coming out from the pen in the third and UH doubled its lead to 2-0 on a RBI two-bagger off the bat of Matt Creel. It could have been 3-0 only Codey Morehouse's squeeze-bunt attempt went back to Bradford, who flipped to Beau Taylor and he laid the tag down on Creel.
Houston kept at it, though, and put a three-spot on the board in the fourth to jump out to a 5-0 cushion, adding RBI from Landon Appling, Caleb Ramsey and M.P. Cokinos in the inning.
And with that five-run lead, Lewis did not have trouble holding on. The southpaw used 101 pitches for the complete-game shutout, limiting the Knights to six hits on the afternoon.
UCF and Houston conclude their series with game three Sunday at 11 a.m.
Game Notes
Houston - 21-23 Overall, 8-6 C-USA
UCF - 27-16 Overall, 7-10 C-USA
-Saturday marked the first time UCF had been shutout since March of last year.
-Chase Bradford had a little hiccup early in his relief outing, but kept Houston scoreless in the final five innings, including sitting down seven-straight Cougars to end the game. The righty concluded his appearance with 7.0 innings, striking out eight and walking only one, giving up four runs on seven hits.
-Bradford's eight strikeouts were a career-high. His previous high for a game was four.
-UCF was held without a home run for the first time since April 17. It entered Saturday with at least one dinger in six-straight games.