ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Trevor Holloway fired seven shutout innings on Sunday afternoon, as the UCF baseball team cruised to an 8-2 win over VCU to clinch its weekend series at John Euliano Park.
“I thought this was the best game we played all season,” head coach Greg Lovelady. “Trevor threw exceptionally well. He’s really made progressions over every start. We didn’t have a single walk, and that’s what shows up on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Offensively, even though we scored eight runs, it felt like we scored 15. The guys did a tremendous job of jumping on them early. We kept putting pressure on them. At the end of the year, we’re going to look back and realize this was a huge series win for us.”
Holloway carved his way through a career-high seven innings, marking the second straight game that the UCF starter went seven deep. The righty struck out a career-high seven batters, while setting a career low with no walks issued. He recorded four 1-2-3 innings in the first, third, fourth and seventh innings. Holloway only allowed one leadoff batter to reach base.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead for the third time in the series. The Black and Gold loaded the bases after a one-out single from Tyler Osik and back-to-back walks from Dallas Beaver and Anthony George. Dalton Wingo broke open the scoring with an RBI single to right, before Chandler Robertson made it 2-0 with a bases loaded walk.
Ray Alejo added to the lead in the next frame with an RBI double to left, after Brandon Hernandez hit a double off the top of the wall in left. Following an Alejo swipe of third, Matthew Mika lofted a one-out sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-0.
UCF tacked on three more runs through the fifth and sixth. Dallas Beaver launched his second home run of the weekend in the fifth, a solo shot. An inning later, Osik and Matthew Mika drove in back-to-back runs with an RBI double and an RBI single, respectively.
Adams Torres, who came in at third in the top of the sixth, added a final insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, bringing Ben McCabe in from third.
Liam Silvagnoli put an end to any hope of a comeback for the Rams. After VCU put a pair in scoring position with no outs, the junior retired the next three batters, two of them on strikes.
UCF (14-6) – 8, VCU (14-5) – 2
Winning pitcher: Trevor Holloway (2-0)
Losing pitcher: Justin Sorokowski (1-1)
Top hitters: Ray Alejo (2-5, 1 RBI, 2 R), Tyler Osik (2-4, 1 RBI, 2 R), Matthew Mika (1-4, 2 RBI) Dallas Beaver (1-4, 1 RBI, 1 R)
Top pitchers: Trevor Holloway (7 IP, 7 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, 3 H), Liam Silvagnoli (1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER, 2 H)
TREVOR’S GEM
• The righty dealt 20 first pitch strikes on the afternoon.
• The seven strikeouts bested his previous career high of six, set twice this season and twice during his freshman campaign at High Point.
• The junior capped his nice outing with 69 of his 90 pitches for strikes.
TOP HEAVY…AGAIN
• For the third straight game, the top four of the batting order rolled.
• Alejo, Osik, Mika and Beaver combined for six of the 11 hits with five RBI and six runs scored.
• Combined, the quartet hit .488 with 15 RBI, 16 runs, four homers and seven walks against VCU this weekend.
NOTES
• UCF leads the all-time series 4-3.
• Beaver now leas the team with 21 RBI and tied Ray Alejo for the team lead with four home runs.
• Tyler Osik extended his hitting streak to a season-long seven games and has a career-best 18-game hitting streak.
• Ray Alejo stole a pair of bags, taking his season tally up to six. UCF is now 41-of-53 when swiping this season.
• Brandon Hernandez went 2-for-4 for his second multi-hit game of the year.
• UCF did not walk an opponent for the first time this season and first time since May 1 against FAU, a 10-inning affair.
UP NEXT
UCF will start a four-game road swing on Tuesday night at Florida State. First pitch on ACC Network Extra will be at 6 p.m.
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