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UCF Baseball Hosts Dartmouth to Conclude 12-Game Homestand

DARTMOUTH – UCF WEEKEND SERIES
Date: Friday – Sunday, March 17-19
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Site: John Euliano Park
Time: 6 p.m. (Fri.) | TBD (Sat.) | 1 p.m. (Sun.)
Live Video - ESPN+: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Tickets
 
STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: LHP Trystan Sarcone (Dartmouth) vs. RHP Ruddy Gomez (UCF)
Saturday: RHP Jack Metzger (Dartmouth) vs. TBD (UCF)
Sunday: TBD (Dartmouth) vs. RHP Cameron Leiter (UCF)
 
Ruddy Gomez is making his fifth start of the season, coming off of a career performance against RV Troy last Friday. In his last outing, Gomez pitched 7.2 innings and struck out 11 hitters, setting a career-high in each, while allowing only one earned run and six hits. Tallying two wins in his four starts this year, Gomez owns a career record of 7-0. This season, he has 23 strikeouts and 23 hits over 23.1 innings of work, allowing six walks and nine earned runs for a 3.47 ERA.

Cameron Leiter will also make his fifth start. Through 14.2 innings, Leiter has 19 strikeouts and 19 hits, surrendering 15 earned runs for a 9.20 ERA and walking 13.

Trystan Sarcone has a 16.43 ERA entering Friday's matchup. He has pitched 7.2 innings over three starts, totaling five strikeouts, 14 earned runs and 17 hits.

Jack Metzger is starting his third game and making his fourth appearance for the Big Green. In 11.2 innings pitched, he's allowed 15 earned runs and 22 hits, but only allowed one walk.
 
The Head-to-Head
The series is tied 3-3 overall. The teams have met for two three-game weekend series, once in 2011 and once in 2013, each team taking a series 2-1. UCF dropped the most recent series to Dartmouth in 2017 but tallied an impressive 15-0 shutout in the series finale. The Knights have hosted every matchup between the two teams.
 
Scouting the Big Green
The 1-8 Big Green have gotten off to a difficult start. Opening their season against then-No. 22 Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., Dartmouth tallied 11 runs on the top-25 team, but fell short, getting swept in their opening series. Dartmouth's first win of the season came Tuesday this week at UCF rival USF in Tampa, Fla., where they held USF to single digit hits in the first game, winning with a 6-1 final score.
 
As a team, Dartmouth is hitting at a .247 mark, averaging 4.4 runs per game and 8.11 hits per game. The team is lead offensively by Tyler Cox, who has a .471 batting average with 16 hits, one home run, 20 total bases and only one strikeout. The team has a 9.65 ERA, allowing a .364 average from opponents.
 
Scouting the Knights
The Knights have had a fantastic start to the 2023 season, going 12-5 in their first games. Offense has been a huge high point for the squad, highlighted by a record-breaking season already from Ben McCabe. The senior leads the AAC in home runs (10), runs scored (24), hits (29), and total bases (65). He also tied Vince Zawaski for the fourth-most career home runs in program history with 40.\

Following their midweek sweep of Florida State, UCF enters their Friday contest clocking in at a 40 RPI ranking, reaching as high as 39 so far this season.
 
UP NEXT
The Knights will go on the road Tuesday, March 21st for the first time since Feb. 21st for their second of three midweek matchups with the North Florida Ospreys.