Orlando, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 19 UCF baseball team completed its fifth sweep of the year with an 8-0 victory over Chicago State on Sunday at John Euliano Park.
The Knights (17-4) pitching staff tossed a two hitter with 15 strikeouts and five free passes. The shutout was the seventh of the season for the Black and Gold.
"We played decently well, not as good as we did yesterday, but we took some steps forward this weekend," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "We didn't leave very many guys on base and took advantage of our opportunities. We got big hits when we needed them. Dalton came up with a big home run. Justin Parker has done a tremendous job with the pitching staff. To have seven shutouts at this point of the year is really difficult to do. JJ did a great job. We did enough offensively and played good defense. We definitely made some strides over the last couple of weeks, and I'm really happy about it."
In his first weekend start of the year, Montgomery cruised over six innings of work. The junior struck out a career-high 11 batters, the most by a Knight since Robby Howell's 11-punchout performance against UConn in 2017. After 12 days off, Montgomery fanned four of the first five batters of the game. Chicago State (4-12) resorted to bunting in order to notch their two hits against the UCF righty.
The Knights opened the scoring in the first inning. Tyler Osik drove in Brandon Hernandez on a sacrifice fly to right, before Logan Heiser singled to left to plate Rylan Thomas. In the fourth, freshman Griffin Bernardo doubled down the left field line to make it 3-0 UCF. Dalton Wingo started the sixth with a solo home run to left field, the first of his career. The Black and Gold added a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth, three of which resulted from CSU errors or wild pitches.
KEY STATS
No. 19 UCF (17-4) – 8, Chicago State (4-12) – 0
Winning pitcher: JJ Montgomery (3-0)
Losing pitcher: Zach Thomas (1-3)
Top performers: JJ Montgomery (6 IP, 11 K, 2 H), Logan Heiser (2-3, 1 RBI), Dalton Wingo (1-4, 1 HR, 2 R)
DOUBLE PLAY DAY
• The Knights turned three double plays in consecutive innings on Sunday.
• Griffin Bernardo snagged a liner to third and easily beat the runner back to first with the throw to finish the sixth.
• In the seventh, Rylan Thomas fielded a hard grounder, stepped on first and then fired to second to get the runner.
• An inning later, after catching a routine fly ball to right, Wingo's throw caught the runner attempting to get back to second base.
• The three double plays were the most by UCF this season.
ONE-TWO-THREE OUT OF THE PEN
• Eric Hepple relieved Montgomery for the seventh. The senior struck out one and walked one in his lone inning of action.
• Garrett Westberg fanned one in the eighth.
• Bryce Tucker closed out the game with two punchouts in the ninth.
WEEKEND RECAP
• The Knights outscored Chicago State 38-1 on the weekend.
• The 38 runs were the most in a single weekend for the Black and Gold since 2010 when the Knights put up 55 runs against Hartford.
• Tyler Osik finished the weekend with a team-high seven RBI, while hitting .333.
• The pitchers posted an 0.33 staff ERA with 35 strikeouts and just nine walks in 27 innings.
• Chicago State mustered just nine hits against the UCF hurlers.
• UCF launched eight home runs on the weekend, including the first home run cycle in program history on Saturday night.
NOTABLES
• The Knights are now 3-0 against Chicago State.
• UCF struck out seven of the nine batters in the CSU lineup.
• With seven shutouts through 21 games, the Knights are tied for the second most in a single season in program history. The record is 13 from the 2004 campaign.
UP NEXT
The Knights will travel to Tallahassee to face Florida State on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
DON'T MISS THE ACTION
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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