STORRS, Conn. (UCFKnights.com) - For the second straight day, the No. 22 UCF baseball team battled UConn in cold and windy conditions at J.O. Christian Field. In an early doubleheader that featured an 8:30 a.m. start time for the first game, the Knights dropped both contests, 6-2 and 7-6.
UCF (22-11, 4-5) received two strong starts from pitchers JJ Montgomery and Chris Williams. The duo combined to strike out 15 with just a pair of walks over 13 2/3 innings of work.
UConn (17-10, 3-3) benefited from UCF errors in the opener, before walking off in the bottom of the ninth in the series finale.
GAME 1
In the opener, which was shortened to seven innings, Montgomery went the distance for the Black and Gold. The Indianapolis, Ind., native struck out seven, his third highest total this season. Montgomery scattered eight hits and allowed one run. He took the loss, despite giving up just one earned run.
UConn took advantage of defensive miscues to score five unearned runs on eight hits. The Knights committed seven errors in the morning contest. The Huskies notched four of their hits after potentially inning-ending.
Matthew Mika and Ray Alejo teamed up for six of the eight UCF hits and both runs. Mika brought in Alejo from second on a single through the right side in the third and a single to up the middle in the fifth.
KEY STATS
No. 22 UCF - 2, UConn - 6
Winning pitcher: Chase Gardner (3-0)
Losing pitcher: JJ Montgomery (3-2)
Top performers: JJ Montgomery (6 IP, 7 K, 8 H, 1 ER), Matthew Mika (3-4, 2 RBI), Ray Alejo (3-3, 2 R)
GAME 2
Williams went at UConn batters during his 7 2/3 innings in the series finale. The redshirt junior shook off a pair of early runs to settle in for the next four innings. After the Huskies tied it up at 4-4 in the eighth, Williams made his exit following eight strikeouts and a career-high 124 pitches.
Tyler Osik put the Knights on the board in the third inning on an RBI single up the middle to bring in Dallas Beaver. The Black and Gold took a 3-2 lead in the fifth with a pair of runs. Chandler Robertson lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Rylan Thomas from third, before Brandon Hernandez took a pitch off the arm with the bases loaded. After UConn leveled the score in the sixth, Hernandez brought in his second run of the game on a sacrifice bunt in the sixth.
The Knights faced another comeback scenario in the ninth inning. Down by two after the Huskies rallied with a trio of runs the eighth, Thomas delivered a clutch two-out, two-RBI single back up the middle to tie the game at 6-6.
Due to travel time constraints for UCF, the game would have gone final after the ninth inning, regardless of the score. UCF pitchers issued three straight walks to lead off the bottom of the ninth, before a wild pitch allowed the winning run to come in from third.
KEY STATS
No. 22 UCF - 6, UConn - 7
Winning pitcher: P.J. Poulin (1-2)
Losing pitcher: Jordan Spicer (3-2)
Top performers: Chris Williams (7.2 IP, 8 K, 9 H, 5 ER, 1 BB), Rylan Thomas (2-4, 2 RBI, 1 R), Brandon Hernandez (1-2, 2 RBI)
NOTABLES
* UCF trails UConn 11-7 in the all-time series.
* Rylan Thomas extended his on-base streak to 41 games.
* JJ Montgomery notched his first career complete game at UCF.
* Matthew Mika stole his 20th base of the year.
* Chris Williams topped 100 career strikeouts on Sunday.
UP NEXT
UCF will travel in the midweek to face Miami, before returning to John Euliano Park for an American Athletic Conference series against Cincinnati next weekend.
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