ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The No. 20 UCF baseball team could not clinch its American Athletic Conference opening series against No. 18 ECU, falling 11-6 on Sunday afternoon at John Euliano Park.
"We didn't do a very good job pitching today," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "We did not have a lot of fastball command. We walked five guys and four of them scored. We scored six runs, and we need to be able to win the game. We just need to be better all around. We need to make more pitches and not give up so many free bases. Their offense did a better job that ours in allowing us to meltdown. We swung at some balls that should have been walks, but instead they're outs. We didn't do enough to win."
Rylan Thomas led the way offensively with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate and three RBI, including his eighth home run of the year. Dallas Beaver went 2-for-4 at the plate and drove in a run on an RBI single to left in the first. Chandler Robertson and Logan Heiser also brought in runs for the Black and Gold.
After ECU opened the scoring on a leadoff home run in the first, the Knights fired back with three runs in the bottom half. Heiser extended the UCF lead with his RBI sacrifice bunt in the third. ECU took control of the game with nine runs over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The Black and Gold pulled two runs back over that span on Thomas' homer to right center and an RBI bloop single by Robertson in the fifth and sixth, respectively.
Cre Finfrock steadied the ship for the Knights, when he came in to pitch in the seventh. The redshirt junior struck out four of the first six batters he faced, including all three ECU batters in the eighth. The righty finished out the game with his longest outing of the year over 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks, while surrendering a pair of hits and one earned run.
KEY STATS
No. 20 UCF (18-8, 1-2) - 6, No. 18 ECU (18-5, 2-1) - 11
Winning pitcher: Matt Bridges (3-1)
Losing pitcher: JJ Montgomery (3-1)
Top performers: Rylan Thomas (3-5, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 1 2B), Dallas Beaver (2-4, 1 RBI, 1 2B), Cre Finfrock (3.1 IP, 4 K, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB)
NOTABLES
* UCF is now 14-33 all-time against the Pirates.
* After committing four errors on Saturday night, the Black and Gold played error free in the series finale.
* Thomas notched his team-leading 11th multi-RBI game of the season.
* Heiser and Ray Alejo both stole second on Sunday for their 13th and fourth swipes of the year, respectively.
WEEKEND RECAP
* Thomas went 6-for-13 at the plate (.462) with five RBI and a .769 slugging percentage.
* Five different Knights brought in multiple RBI on the weekend.
* The Black and Gold dropped a series for the first time this year.
* UCF is now 4-4 against ranked opponents this season.
UP NEXT
The Knights are off for the midweek for the first time this season. UCF will travel to Memphis on Thursday to open a three-game set against the Tigers.
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