ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - Despite a career-high nine strikeouts from starting pitcher Joe Sheridan, the No. 19 UCF baseball team could not extend its winning streak to 14 games on Wednesday night at John Euliano Park, as the Knights fell to Miami, 4-3.
"We played well," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "I was happy. I thought we competed and had good at-bats. When you play a really good team, you can't give them extra outs. You have to get the runs when you can. We had some miscues and they took advantage of them. They got some hits and brought in some runs, and that was something we weren't able to do. I was really happy with Joe Sheridan. With the depleted bullpen today, we needed Joe and Cre to throw the game, and that's exactly what they did. They put us in a position to win."
The Knights (14-4) traded runs with the Hurricanes (8-8) in the first inning. After Miami opened the scoring with an RBI single in the top half, Rylan Thomas homered to the UCF bullpen in right to even the score.
UCF then struck twice to take the lead in the second. With Matthew Mika on third, Logan Heiser dropped a sacrifice bunt down the first base line to give Mika plenty of time to come home. Two batters later, Brody Wofford scored on an infield single by Jackson Webb.
The Hurricanes responded in the fourth with a 2-RBI single from Willy Escala, before Miami plated the winning run in the sixth. After Freddy Zamora tripled with one out, Isaac Quinones brought in the run with a hard hit ball to short. Zamora broke for home and the Knights took the out at first.
In the eighth and ninth, the Black and Gold advanced runners into scoring position with one out, but UCF left the potential tying runs 180 feet short.
Joe Sheridan was saddled with his first loss of the season for his seven innings of work. The sophomore fanned a career-best nine and scattered six hits. Cre Finfrock came on for the final two innings to strike out one, walk one and give up one hit.
KEY STATS
No. 19 (14-4) - 3, Miami (8-8) - 4
Winning pitcher: Daniel Federman (2-0)
Losing pitcher: Joe Sheridan (2-1)
Top performers: Joe Sheridan (7.0 IP, 9 K, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB), Cre Finfrock (2.0 IP, 1 K, 1 H, 1 BB), Jackson Webb (2-2, 1 RBI), Rylan Thomas (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 HR)
NOTABLES
* Miami leads the series 29-9.
* The two clubs will meet again at Miami on April 11.
* Thomas' home run was his sixth of the season and the 20th of his career.
* Sheridan now has 90 strikeouts in his 22 career appearances.
* UCF's winning streak ended at 13 games, which is tied with 1998 streak for fifth longest in program history.
UP NEXT
UCF will host Chicago State at John Euliano Park this weekend for a three-game series.
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Season and single-game tickets for UCF Baseball are on sale. Featuring a 36-game home schedule, John Euliano Park is set to host some of the best collegiate baseball in the country. For more information on tickets call 407-823-1000 or log on to ticketmaster.com.
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