ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF baseball team could not complete the sweep of Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon, falling 9-6 in the series finale at John Euliano Park. The Knights held a four-run advantage after seven innings, but the Bearcats struck for seven runs over the final two frames.
The Black and Gold jumped out to an early lead in the second inning. After Matthew Mika drew a leadoff walk, Tyler Osik drilled two-run homer to left. UCF starting pitcher JJ Montgomery found his groove on the mound. The junior retired the side in order in four innings. Montgomery finished the day with four strikeouts over six innings of work, allowing two runs on three hits.
Cincinnati pulled a pair of runs back in the sixth on a two-run homer, before Osik responded with an RBI single through the left side in the bottom half of the inning. Mika then trotted in from third on a wild pitch four batters later. Eric Hepple stepped on the mound for the seventh and worked around a leadoff double in his only inning of action.
The Bearcats made their charge in the eighth. Cincinnati scored a pair of runs on RBI singles with one out, before cutting the UCF lead to one with a sacrifice fly. The visitors took the lead when the Black and Gold committed an error that let two runners score. Cincinnati added to its lead in the ninth with a two-run home run.
KEY STATS
UCF (25-12, 6-6) – 6, Cincinnati (17-17, 7-5) – 9
Winning pitcher: Jarod Yoakam (5-1)
Losing pitcher: Thad Ward (4-2)
Top performers: Tyler Osik (4-4, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 2 R), Matthew Mika (1-2, 1 RBI, 3 R), JJ Montgomery (6 IP, 4 K, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB)
O KNOWS
• Tyler Osik went 4-for-4 in the series finale with three RBI.
• The redshirt junior matched his career high in hits, which came against Florida on March 6.
• Osik homered for the third time in as many games.
• He finished the series with 11 RBI and weekend slugging percentage of 1.385.
NOTABLES
• The Knights topped Cincinnati for the third straight year, but fell in the finale in each series.
• Rylan Thomas extended his on-base streak to a career-high 45 games.
• With a pair of doubles on Sunday, Thomas has 20 extra-base hits this season.
• Osik took over the team lead in RBI with 45. Thomas follows in second with 41.
• Mika's home run was his third of the season and the fifth of his career.
• Mika, Osik or Thomas have driven in an RBI in 33 of UCF's 37 games this season.
UP NEXT
The Knights will face Bethune-Cookman on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at John Euliano Park, before playing their War-On-I4 Series at USF next weekend.
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