ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – In his final start at John Euliano Park, Grant Schuermann spun eight shutout innings to lift the UCF baseball team opened the final series of the regular season on Thursday night with an 8-0win over Houston. The shutout gave the Knights their sixth win in a row.
“That was a huge start to the weekend,” head coach Greg Lovelady said. “The guys came out loose and ready to go. Grant, pitching the way he did for us, was huge. He controlled the game. He got into some trouble but pitched out of it. We scored some runs and took advantage of a few mistakes. Then, Beaver came up big with that home run. It was a well-played game all around. We need to do better offensively early, but I’m proud of the guys for what they were able to do tonight.”
Schuermann came out dealing over the course of eight innings of work. The southpaw fired off five strikeouts against just four hits. The redshirt senior retired the side in order in for frames and induced a pair of double plays.
Offensively, the Knights jumped out front in the second inning. Dallas Beaver worked his way to third after a walk, a single by Dalton Wingo and a throwing error. Chandler Robertson then opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Two batters later, Wingo came in from third on a fielding error by the third baseman. Anthony George made it a 3-0 advantage on the next-at bat with an RBI single back up the middle.
Houston looked poised to carve into the lead in the top of the third with two runners in scoring position and no outs. Schuermann coolly worked out of the jam with three straight outs on 14 pitches. On a grounder to third, George helped his pitcher with a perfect throw to the plate for Beaver to apply the tag and keep the Cougars off the board.
UCF plated a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. After loading the bases with one out, Chandler Robertson plated his second run of the game with a bases loaded walk.
Beaver put the game away in the eighth. With two on and two out, the junior belted his team-leading 12th home run of the year into the left field bullpen for a three-run blast.
After Schuermann made his exit ahead of the ninth, Luis Ferrer came in for the final frame to deal a high strikeouts.
UCF (33-19, 10-12) – 8, Houston (31-21, 11-11) – 0
Winning pitcher: Grant Schuermann (6-5)
Losing pitcher: Lael Lockhart (4-6)
Top hitters: Tyler Osik (2-4, 2 R), Dallas Beaver (1-3, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 BB), Chandler Robertson (0-2, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SF), Anthony George (1-4, 1 RBI)
Top pitchers: Grant Schuermann (8 IP, 5 K, 4 H, 0 R), Luis Ferrer (1 IP, 3 K, 2 H, 0 R)
COMPLETE GAME FOR SCHERM
• The eight scoreless innings was the second longest shutout performance of his career, topped only by a complete game shutout against Gardner-Webb on March 17, 2015, during his freshman year at Furman.
• The redshirt senior recorded his seventh quality start of the year, a team best.
• With his sixth win on the year, Schuermann is now tied with Chris Williams for the team lead.
BEAVER BASH
• Beaver’s home run pulled him level with Tyler Osik for the active career leader with 19.
• It was the first three-run shot of Beaver’s career.
• Beaver now has a team-high 15 multi-RBI games this year and 23 in his career.
NOTES
• The Knights have won nine of their last 11 games.
• UCF has outscored opponents 81-62 over the first two innings of games this season.
• Matthew Mika reached base for the 16th straight game, one shy of his career high.
• The Knights posted their fifth shutout of the year and the 18th of the Greg Lovelady era.
• Thursday night marked the sixth time that a starter has not allowed a run with at least six innings pitched.
UP NEXT
UCF will look to win the series in game two tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Jordan Spicer will make his final home start for the Black and Gold.
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