ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - Backed by home runs from Matthew Mika and Rylan Thomas, as well as a three-hitter from the pitching staff, the UCF baseball team clinched its American Athletic Conference series against No. 30 Wichita State with an 8-4 victory on Sunday at John Euliano Park.
"It was a great win," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "We walked a bunch of guys, but we managed the game well on the mound. Offensively, it was a great performance. Ray Alejo was unbelievable. He did a great job of getting on top of baseballs and hitting line drives. We stole a bunch of bases and put ourselves in scoring positions. I thought we showed a lot of toughness. The guys stayed loose when they scored a couple of runs in the middle innings. We had some tough at-bats, which helped us play a lot freer from the fifth inning on. We had a lot of fun. It was good to finish the series with a win."
The Knights jumped out front with homers in the second and third innings. Matthew Mika drilled the first pitch he saw on the afternoon over the wall in left for a leadoff home run in the second. After Alejo reached on a two-out single to left in the third, Rylan Thomas broke the game open with a towering drive to left for his 12th homer of the year.
The Black and Gold took advantage of Wichita State miscues on three of its next five runs. In the fifth, Alejo darted home on a wild pitch, before Mika came in on error during Max Wood's at-bat. Thomas put UCF ahead 6-3 in the seventh with a sacrifice fly to right. The Knights added to the lead with a pair of scores in the eighth. Brandon Hernandez darted in from second on a throwing error on Jackson Webb's two-out at-bat. Webb then capped the scoring in a memorable way by stealing home.
UCF starting pitcher Joe Sheridan gave the Black and Gold a solid outing in his first start in two weeks. The southpaw worked his way around a handful of walks during his 4 2/3 innings of work. Sheridan struck out five and gave up just two hits and one run. He made way for Garrett Westberg to throw the next 1 2/3 innings. The Federal Way, Wash., native fanned a pair and allowed one run and one hit. Thad Ward and Bryce Tucker combined to not allow a hit in the final 2 2/3 innings.
KEY STATS
UCF (29-15, 9-9) - 8, No. 30 Wichita State (28-14, 5-10) - 4
Winning pitcher: Garrett Westberg (2-1)
Losing pitcher: Liam Eddy (6-3)
Top performers: Ray Alejo (3-3, 3 R, 2 2B), Rylan Thomas (1-4, 3 RBI, 1 HR), Matthew Mika (2-3, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 HR)
RAY ROLLS
* Alejo powered the offense with a 3-for-3 outing with three runs.
* The redshirt sophomore matched his career high with two doubles.
* The UCF centerfielder started the day off with a walk on 12 pitches.
THE STREAK
* Rylan Thomas tied the program record for on-base streak in a single season at 44 games.
* The redshirt sophomore matched Kiko Vazquez's mark from 2007.
* His current streak is 52 games, dating back to last season.
* During the streak, Thomas has brought in 58 runs and hit 14 home runs.
NOTABLES
* UCF is now 2-1 against Wichita State.
* The Knights won their third conference series.
* The Black and Gold is 7-5 against ranked opponents in 2018.
* Thomas has 16 multi-RBI games this season.
* Mika upped his stolen base tally to a team-high 24. Alejo swiped his 21st of the year, as well
* UCF notched five extra-base hits.
* The Knights have held opponents to five hits or less in 14 games this season.
* The last player to steal home before Webb was James Vasquez against Texas Tech on Feb. 23, 2013.
* The Black and Gold have reached double figures in hits in 17 games this season
UP NEXT
The Knights will host FAU on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. for the final home midweek game of the year.
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