ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – On a night that felt more like Central Indiana in mid-March than Central Florida, the UCF baseball team rallied to a 9-8 win over Ball State on Wednesday night at John Euliano Park. Pedro Castellano drove a walk-off RBI single to right to bring the five-hour contest to a close in the bottom of the 13th.
“That was a crazy game,” head coach Greg Lovelady said. “I’m proud of the guys for not giving up. We could have rolled over after giving up the lead twice. I’m proud of how Pedro, a guy who has never played in this type of weather, stayed focused for 12 innings, then came up with the big base hit in the 13th. We need to play a lot better, but we rose to the occasion when we were faced with the challenge. We’ll take it and turn our attention to this weekend.”
The Knights showed zero quit all night, rallying back from a multi-run deficit three times. The Black and Gold scored in just three innings and finished each of those frames either tied or with the lead.
UCF struggled to gain a foothold in the game through the opening six innings, as the Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The Black and Gold displayed what became a common theme in the game – perseverance.
The Knights opened the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back-to-back doubles, the latter two each driving in a run off the bats of Matthew Mika and Ben McCabe. With the deficit sawed in half, the hosts loaded the bases with no outs. Chandler Robertson and Tyler Osik showed cooled heads at the plate on 3-2 counts and walked both times. The inning only came to a close when Ray Alejo was narrowly beat at the plate when stealing home.
Ball State could not string together much offense for the next four innings, hindered by dominant UCF pitching. The Knights allowed just one hit during that stretch, while striking out seven. Brandon Hernandez nearly scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, only for the left fielder to throw home and erase the would-be walk-off sac fly from Robertson.
After two scoreless frames to start UCF’s first extra-inning affair of the year, the offenses lit it up over the final two innings.
Ball State plated two in the top of the 12th to put the pressure on the Knights, something the hosts weren’t aware of. Dallas Beaver launched a deep fly ball to center field for the second out of the inning and brought in Hernandez from third. Down to the last out, Ray Alejo stole third and broke for home when the throw sailed into left field.
Again, Ball State plated a pair of runs in the top of the 13th, but the Knights avoided going to a 14th frame.
Dalton Wingo and Matthew Mika drew a pair of walks to start the inning. With two on and no outs, McCabe dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line. The throw, which the rookie catcher easily beat, flew past the first baseman, allowing Dalton Wingo to score from second. Mika tied the game at 8-8 on a sac fly from Hernandez.
The Cardinals elected to intentionally walk Alejo and Robertson to load the bases in order to get to Castellano. The Venezuelan born outfielder had checked into the game in the top of the inning and headed to the plate for his first at-bat of the night.
He only needed one to make an impact.
The junior drilled the first pitch he saw out to right field for his first walk-off base hit as a Knight.
UCF (9-3) – 9, Ball State (5-7) – 8
Winning pitcher: Luis Ferrer (1-0)
Losing pitcher: Andrew Orselli
Top hitters: Ray Alejo (3-5, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB), Matthew Mika (2-3, 2 R, 3 BB), Ben McCabe (2-6, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 R)
Top pitchers: Garrett Westberg (1.0 IP, 2 K, 0 H), Jeffrey Hakanson (2.2 IP, 4 K, 0 H), Luis Ferrer (2.0 IP, 1 K, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER)
BACK END BULLPEN
• After the pitching staff took some time to settle into a rhythm in the opening innings, a trio of arms silenced Ball State during the four inning stretch.
• Jack Sinclair faced two batters and struck out one in the eighth.
• Garrett Westberg carved up a pair of batters during his one inning of work.
• Jeffrey Hakanson produced another ironman performance, going 2 2/3 innings of hitless action with a quartet of punchouts.
• Luis Ferrer picked up his first career win for the Knights, striking out on over the final two innings of the game.
BOTTOM LINE PRODUCTION
• UCF saw hefty production out of the 7-8-9 spots in the order.
• Matthew Mika went 2-for-3 with a career-high three walks.
• Ben McCabe went 2-for-6, recording his first career RBI, extra-base hit and first multi-hit game.
• Brandon Hernandez chipped in an RBI and walked twice.
• Eight of the nine runs were scored by the 6-7-8-9 spots, with leadoff hitter Ray Alejo scoring the other one.
NOTES
• UCF is now 2-1 all-time against Ball State.
• The Knights are 2-0 this season in walk-offs and 11-3 in the Greg Lovelady era.
• The 13-inning affair was the longest game since the Knights walked off Oklahoma last season.
• Tyler Osik extended is on-base streak to a career-long 11 games.
• The Knights were outhit for just the third time this season and are 12-34 when on the wrong end of the hit column.
UP NEXT
UCF will host Big Ten foe Penn State on the weekend. It will be a reunion for head coaches Greg Lovelady and Rob Cooper, as the two coached together at Wright State before reaching their current roles
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news.
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Baseball on social media on Facebook (/UCF.Baseball), Twitter (UCF_Baseball) and Instagram (UCF.Baseball).