Feb. 25, 2012
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By Eric DeSalvo
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - In another back-and-forth affair with Boston College, the No. 19 UCF baseball team was unable to clinch the series win in game two Saturday at the UCF baseball complex. The Eagles (4-1) added three runs in the top of the seventh and would go on to close out the game for an 8-7 victory over the Knights (4-2).
"It was a great college baseball game going back and forth with both teams fighting until the end," UCF head coach Terry Rooney said. "We talk about it all the time, baseball is a game of momentum and I thought our guys fought all night long. We put that four spot up (in the fifth) and our guys battled like crazy. That is the fight we need to continue to have."
UCF faced as much as a four-run deficit in the ballgame, but battled back using a two-run fifth and four-run sixth inning to take a 7-5 lead into the top of the seventh.
Junior LHP Brian Adkins (Orlando, Fla.) pitched in and out of trouble all afternoon as the Eagles were able to get to him for four runs on eight hits in three-plus innings work.
Facing a 5-1 deficit, the Knights put up multiple runs for the second-straight game in the fifth frame. Junior Chris Taladay (Windermere, Fla.) doubled down the right-field line, his first of 2012, and was followed by a Ryan Breen (Palm City, Fla.) single to center to put men on the corners. Freshman James Vasquez (Palm City, Fla.) came through with a RBI groundout, and UCF got its second run of the inning after Carrillo hit a strike to the shortstop who bobbled the ball, allowing Breen to score from third.
In the sixth, UCF struck for more after a leadoff single by Darnell Sweeney (Miramar, Fla.) and a Ronnie Richardson (Eagle Lake, Fla.) walk set up Taladay who sent a shot to shallow right to bring home Sweeney for his second run scored of the day.
BC's Tyler Hinchcliffe relieved Kyle Prohovich, who started the inning, with one out and the bases loaded. After the change, Vasquez was able to deliver on the Knights' third opportunity with the bases juiced, taking a 2-1 pitch to center field to drive home Richardson and Taladay for his fourth and fifth RBI of the season. Senior Alex Friedrich (Orlando, Fla.) would add a sacrifice fly to left to push the score to 7-5.
The Eagles wouldn't go away easily though as they took advantage of a tough strike zone in the top of the seventh, plating three-straight runs via the walk. Hinchcliffe and RHP Matt Brazis combined to go the last three innings for the win and save.
UCF will look for its first series win over an ACC opponent in eight years (Clemson, 2004) Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. Action from the UCF baseball complex can be seen live on All-Access via UCFAthletics.com.