ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The No. 20 UCF baseball team started its American Athletic Conference title defense on Friday night at John Euliano Park with a 9-1 win over No. 18 ECU. Joe Sheridan went eight innings and allowed one run, as the Knights notched their fourth win over a ranked opponent this season.
"I thought we played probably our best game of the year," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "I thought we had a bunch of huge at-bats. The guys did a great job of letting the moment come to them and embracing it. Rylan, Ray and Robertson had huge at-bats for us tonight. We were just trying to get to the next man, and that broke the game open. Joe got a lot of bad contact and ground balls, and he did what a Friday night guy needs to do on the mound. The guys did a great job of continuing to play with the lead and put the game away."
Sheridan guided the Knights in one of his best performances of the year. The sophomore fanned a quartet of Pirates and issued just one walk against over a career-high eight innings. Sheridan allowed just one runner on base in the first three innings, before running into a jam in the fourth when the lefty gave up ECU's lone run of the night. Sheridan and the UCF defense forced the Pirates to strand seven runners on base.
After giving up the go-ahead run in the fourth, the Knights tied it up on an RBI sacrifice fly from Matthew Mika in the bottom half. The Black and Gold then used back-to-back four-run innings to take command of the game. In the fifth after Logan Heiser scored on a wild pitch, Ray Alejo drove a single up the middle to plate two runs. Rylan Thomas added a run with an RBI single two batters later. In the following frame, Alejo, Chandler Robertson and Thomas tacked on four more runs on back-to-back-to-back RBI base hits.
KEY STATS
No. 20 UCF (18-6, 1-0) - 9, No. 18 ECU (16-5, 0-1) - 1
Winning pitcher: Joe Sheridan (3-1)
Losing pitcher: Trey Benton (4-2)
Top performers: Joe Sheridan (8 IP, 4 K, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB), Ray Alejo (3-5, 4 RBI, 3 R), Rylan Thomas (3-4, 2 RBI)
JOE JAMS
* Sheridan topped 100 pitches for the fourth time in his career, ending the night with 101.
* Friday night was the 10th time that the southpaw gave up one or no runs in a start in his career.
* After working out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, Sheridan did not allow a runner into scoring position for the remainder of the game.
TOP HEAVY
* The Knights had plenty of production from the first four spots of the lineup.
* Alejo, Robertson, Thomas and Matthew Mika brought in eight runs on the night.
* Alejo had a career-high three hits and four RBI.
* Thomas drove in his 30th and 31st runs of the year on a career-best three hits. The sophomore plated 53 runs as a rookie in 2017.
* The top four generated seven of the 10 UCF hits.
NOTABLES
* UCF is now 4-1 in American Athletic Conference openers.
* Thomas extended his hitting streak to nine games. He has reached safely in all 24 contests this season.
* Sheridan's previous career high was 7 2/3 innings against ECU on April 15 last season.
* Eric Hepple came on for the final inning and recorded one punchout, his 20th of the year.
* The Knights improved to 4-2 this season against the top-25.
* The Black and Gold were error free for the 11th time this season.
UP NEXT
Chris Williams will get the ball on Saturday, as the Knights go for their sixth series win of the year. ECU will counter with Chris Holba.
PARKING PROBLEMS
Due to an event in CFE Arena, Garage F parking will not be free.
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