ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF baseball team opened its fall slate on Sunday afternoon with a full game against Seminole State College at John Euliano Park. Head coach Greg Lovelady blended returners and newcomers in a 7-3 victory.
The Knights used seven different pitchers and racked up 11 strikeouts over the course of the game. Starting hurler Trevor Holloway was perfect in his two innings of action, finishing with a pair of punchouts.
Reliever Grant Schuermann followed for the third and fourth. He worked around a trio of hits and struck out one, but four errors allowed in the fourth allowed the Raiders to plate a trio of unearned runs.
The Knights bounced back in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from Adams Torres and an RBI sacrifice fly by Chandler Robertson to cut the deficit to one. Zack Hunsicker closed the door when the Raiders looked to punch back in the top of the fifth.
UCF struck for five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Griffin Bernardo pulled the Knights level with an RBI single, before Anthony George, who missed the entire 2018 season due to injury, roped a two-run homer over the wall in left to put the Black and Gold ahead. A pair Seminole State miscues let the Knights tack on two more runs to open a five-run advantage.
Returners Jack Sinclair and Isaiah Musa guided the hosts through the sixth and seventh innings with one strikeout apiece. Musa was helped by a pair of great defensive plays. Shortstop Brandon Hernandez robbed a sure base hit up the middle with a diving stop and beat the runner with the throw. Later, outfielder Jordan Rathbone eliminated a scoring threat with a cannon from left field that beat a runner trying to score from second.
Over the final two innings, pitchers Zack Helsel and Nolan Lepkoske each posted a pair of punchouts to close out the game in their innings of work.
The Knights will head to the ESPN Wide World of Sport next Sunday to face the Canadian Junior National Team. Check UCFKnights.com later in the week for game time and field location.
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