NEW ORLEANS, La. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF baseball team would not be denied Sunday, winning its fourth-straight conference series by defeating Tulane 11-1 at Turchin Stadium.
For the third straight game UCF got on the board first, after left fielder Kyle Marsh drew a one-out walk in the top of the second inning. Designated hitter Bryce Peterson followed with a single up the middle, moving Marsh to third.
"The Offense just did a tremendous job for us today," UCF head coach Greg Lovelady said. "We got some big two-strike hit and ran the bases extremely hard. We hustled out of the box and got doubles, took walks when they gave it to us and didn't swing outside of the strike zone. We put barrels on the ball and put a lot of pressure on them, it was really good to see."
Catcher Logan Heiser then drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Tulane's starter struggled to find his command and walked the next two hitters giving the Knights a 2-0 lead.
Tulane responded in the bottom half of the inning, with a solo home run to cut the lead in half. The Knights came charging back in the third however, delivering big two-out rally.
90 feet made all the difference in the frame, as second baseman Matthew Mika singled through the left side with one out. In the next at bat Marsh drove a ball deep to right field but Mika was able to tag up and move to second on the play. Mika's heads up base running would be a catalyst for the two-out rally that followed.
Peterson laced an infield single to third base and Mika came around to score on a throwing error by the third baseman. UCF third baseman Kam Gellinger then doubled down the right field line scoring Peterson from first. Gelinger would move to third after the throw home got away from the Tulane catcher.
Heiser then added a double of his own, scoring Gellinger and giving the Knights a 5-1 lead. Hamblin singled through the right side to score Heiser before right fielder Eli Putnam layed down a bunt single to the third base side.
With runners on the corners and still two away, short stop Brennan Bozeman delivered his 20th RBI of the season slapping a single to left field. All told, the Black and Gold tallied five runs on seven hits and one error in the inning.
Freshman Left-hander Joe Sheridan notched his team-best ninth win of the season with another quality start. He delivered seven innings giving up just one run on four hits and did not issue a single walk. Sheridan leads the Knights staff in wins with a 9-3 record.
"I was just able to throw strikes," Sheridan said after the game. "Getting that lead early, they had to be super aggressive, so I was able to get ahead in counts and get them to swing at pitches they might not normally go after. I kept the pitch count down and the defense played really well behind me today."
The Black and Gold added two more runs in the seventh and a run in each of the eighth and ninth innings, putting an exclamation point on the series victory. UCF racked up 16 hits including five doubles and 10 RBIs on the day. All nine of the Knights starters had at least one hit, Hamblin and Putnam each went 3-for-five.
With the win, UCF is now tied for second in The American with Houston at 11-7 while South Florida has a one-game lead at 12-6. Tulane slips to a tie for third with UConn at 10-8 and Cincinnati (8-10), Memphis (6-12), and East Carolina (4-14) remain in the bottom third.
Next up, UCF continues its road swing with a midweek game at Miami on May 10 before heading north to Cincinnati for a three-game set with the Bearcats May 12-14.
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