ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 20 UCF baseball team dropped game two of its American Athletic Conference opening series against No. 18 ECU on Saturday night at John Euliano Park, 12-4. The Knights committed four errors on the night and allowed just one earned run.
"I'm sure that in the history of baseball, a team hasn't won a game when they gave up 11 unearned runs," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "We had some chances with the bases loaded twice. We had chances, but we didn't play well enough defensively. We had too many errors. Willy had a great start with some big pitches, but those errors led to 11 unearned runs. It's a frustrating way to end the game, when we had a chance to win the series."
UCF jumped out to a 3-0 lead after five innings. Logan Heiser brought in runners in the second and fifth innings on a single and sacrifice fly, respectively, and Matthew Mika chipped in an RBI single through the left side in the fifth. After ECU tied the game with three runs in the sixth, Chandler Robertson singled up the middle to plate Ray Alejo in the bottom half of the inning.
Chris Williams gave the Black and Gold another strong start on the mound. The righty tossed six innings with three strikeouts and three walks. The Pirates scratched six hits against the redshirt junior that led to three runs, all of which were unearned. Williams was in line for his fourth victory of the season, before defensive miscues in the eighth cost the Knights the game. ECU scored nine runs on four hits and a trio of UCF errors in that frame.
KEY STATS
No. 20 UCF (18-7, 1-1) – 4, No. 18 ECU (17-5, 1-1) – 12
Winning pitcher: Jake Agnos (2-2)
Losing pitcher: Bryce Tucker (0-2)
Top performers: Chris Williams (6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 3 BB), Logan Heiser (2-3, 2 RBI), Matthew Mika (3-4, 1 RBI, 2 SB)
NOTABLES
• Sunday will be the first rubber match of the season for the Black and Gold.
• Heiser's two RBI matched his season high. He now has 16 multi-RBI games in his career.
• Mika stole a pair of bases to take his season tally up to 16. The junior has 45 swipes in his career.
• Rylan Thomas' nine-game hitting streak came to an end, but the sophomore extended his on-base steak to a career-high 33 games.
• Four Knights finished the game with multiple hits, led by Mika with three.
• Williams has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts, a span of 20 innings. Saturday was his third start of the year without a decision.
UP NEXT
JJ Montgomery will go to the mound, as the Knights will go for their sixth straight series win this season. ECU will give Tyler Smith the ball in the series finale at 1 p.m on Sunday.
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