Tampa, Fla. – After picking up a win in the first game of the War on I-4 series in Tampa, the UCF baseball team dropped the doubleheader to the Bulls, 6-2 and 3-1.
Game One | UCF (11-15, 1-1 AAC) – 2, South Florida (11-13, 1-1 AAC) – 6
UCF jumped out to a two-run lead early in the game, plating two runs in the first inning of the day. Josh Crouch drew a bases loaded walk, which was followed up by an RBI single from Andrew Brait.
The Knights wouldn't have an answer for USF pitching the rest of the game, unable to record more than one hit per inning for the rest of the contest.
The Bulls homered in the bottom half of the first to cut the UCF lead in half, and then again in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. South Florida added two more insurance runs in the seventh to even the series.
Winning Pitcher: Dylan Burns (2-3)
Losing Pitcher: Kenny Serwa (0-1)
Top Pitchers: Kenny Serwa (6.0 IP, 6 K, 4 R)
Top Hitters: Andrew Brait (1-3, 1 RBI), Jordan Rathbone(1-4 1 R)
Notables
- Kenny Serwa made his longest appearance as a Knight at 6.0 IP, and fanned a season-high six batters.
- Andrew Brait's RBI single was his third RBI of the year
Game Two | UCF (11-16, 1-2 AAC) – 1, South Florida (12-13, 1-2 AAC) – 3
The Knights were unable to find an answer for South Florida starting pitcher, Collin Sullivan. Sullivan held UCF to just three hits in the game, two of which came in the third inning when the Knights plated a run on a Gephry Pena single.
South Florida took the first lead of the game in the second inning after a walked batter came around to score. The Bulls added three runs on a hit, two hit batters and a sac bunt to take the lead in the fourth.
Billy McKay closed the game for the Knights on the hill with a career outing, posting a career high 6.0 IP and six strikeouts.
Winning Pitcher: Collin Sullivan (1-0)
Losing Pitcher: Jack Sinclair (1-3)
Top Pitchers: Billy McKay (4.0 IP, 6 K, 1 BB, 0 R)
Notables
- UCF still trails in the all-time series, 74-69
- Billy McKay made a career-high 4.0 IP appearance and picked up a career-high six strikeouts
- After reaching base with singles in each game, Gephry Pena's on-base streak is up to 26 games, dating back to March 6, 2020
War on I4
- Each game is worth .75 points for a total of six points available to each program by the conclusion of the eight games. (8 games x .75 pts = 6 total points)
- With two losses UCF falls to 30.75 – 16.5 in the all-sport War on I-4 season series.
- Fans can follow the 2020-21 War on I-4 all-sport season series here: https://www.war-on-i4.com
Next Up
UCF continues the three-game series with Liberty on Sunday, Mar. 7 with an 11 a.m. first pitch at John Euliano Park.
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