May 19, 2013
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Eric DeSalvo
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Following the most dominant outing of his career, UCF right-hander Ben Lively earned Conference USA Pitcher of the Week Sunday afternoon, the league office announced. It is the first time Lively has taken home the award in his career.
The 6-foot-4 junior is the fourth Knight to earn a weekly honor from C-USA in 2013 as James Vasquez (Feb. 25), Zac Favre (March 18) and Parker Webster (March 25) were also recognized for their stellar efforts.
Just the fourth pitcher in program history to earn pitcher of the week laurels, Lively finished the regular season in style, tossing a four-hit shutout at East Carolina with one walk and seven strikeouts last Thursday. Using just 108 pitches, the Gulf Breeze native faced 30 batters and didn't allow a runner past second base.
It was also the first complete-game shutout in his three years on campus, and first nine-inning blanking for a Knights' starting pitcher since Tim Bascom accomplished the feat on April 7, 2006, against the Pirates. The dominant performance dropped his league-leading ERA to 1.71 in 100 frames this year. He is the first pitcher since Bascom in 2005 (113.1) to hit the century mark in innings pitched at UCF.
Lively, and the rest of his teammates, will head to the Conference USA Championship in Houston, Texas, as the No. 5 seed. He will make the start on Wednesday at 12 p.m. EDT when he looks to avenge a 2-1 loss earlier this year against No. 4 Memphis.
The Knights will also battle top-seeded host Rice on Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT and No. 8 UAB Friday at 8 p.m. EDT in their pod. Should they own the best record in the pool, they will advance to Sunday's championship game at 2 p.m. EDT on CBS Sports Network.
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