ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF baseball team will head out on the road for its final midweek game of the year on Tuesday night. The Knights will travel to Jacksonville for a 6 p.m. first pitch.
Marc Daniels will have the call on UCF Stretch Internet.
The Knights (33-19) dropped its weekend series to No. 26 Oklahoma at John Euliano Park. Matthew Mika drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 14th on Friday night to lift the Black and Gold to a 5-4 victory. In the final two games of the series, the Knights brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth but could not clinch the non-conference series.
Thad Ward was honored by the American Athletic Conference for the second straight week. The junior appeared on The American Weekly Honor Roll after shutting down the Oklahoma offense for six inning of relief work. Ward did not surrender a hit nor a run out of the bullpen and finished with eight strikeouts. The righty has a 1.56 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings as a reliever this season.
Dallas Beaver continued his strong offensive play over the last 15 games with a five-RBI week. The sophomore belted his sixth home run of the season in the series opener against the Sooners. He has led the way offensively over the last 15 games with a .317 batting average. Beaver sits fifth on the team with a .279 clip at the plate and is tied for third with 29 RBI with Matthew Mika.
Jacksonville (34-17) enters the midweek clash after sweeping USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. Scott Dubrule garnered ASUN Player of the Week laurels after hitting .500 with 12 RBI over four games last week, including a 3-for-4 outing at then-No. 13 Florida State. On the mound, Chris Mauloni has become one of the premiere stoppers in the nation with 17 saves.
GAME INFO
GAME 53 | UCF at Jacksonville
Tuesday, May 15 | 6 p.m.
Listen: UCF Stretch Internet
Luis Ferrer (LHP, 0-1, 0.96 ERA) vs. Greg Shannahan (RHP, 1-2, 5.61 ERA)
NOTES TO KNOW
• UCF leads the all-time series against Jacksonville, 43-38.
• The series against the Dolphins is the fifth longest in program history, as well as the fifth closest for series with at least 25 games.
• The Knights have won 10 games against the current RPI top-50.
• Ray Alejo has been perfect on his last 14 stolen base attempts. He leads The American with 32 swipes and is tied for eighth place in the single-season record book with Matt Ray (2005).
• UCF topped 500 strikeouts last weekend for the second straight season.
• With 526 punchouts, the Knights rank fourth in the nation. The single-season record is 597, set back in 2001.
• UCF is allowing just 7.09 hits per nine innings, the third best tally in the nation.
• Rylan Thomas and Tyler Osik enter the final week of the year tied for the team lead in RBI with 54.
• Thad Ward's eight punchout performance took his strikeout per nine innings tally to 12.72, good for 12th in the country.
• UCF is 8-5 in midweek contest in 2018 and 19-12 in the Greg Lovelady era.
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