ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team fell two runs short of a ninth-inning comeback in the series finale against the Maryland Terrapins, 8-6.
Maryland's Kyle McCoy, a freshman left-hander, had a dominant performance on the mound to set up the victory for the Terps, blanking the Knights and allowing only three hits through eight innings.
Jacob Marlowe held Maryland to three runs through seven innings, tying his career-long outing and setting a career record in single-game strikeouts with six. Working efficiently, Marlowe surrendered only one walk and worked two 1-2-3 innings using only five pitches.
The first run didn't score until the top of the fourth, when the Terps plated one on an RBI single from Matt Woods. Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw, who went 4-5 on the day, had home runs in back-to-back at bats in the sixth and eighth innings, scoring four.
The Terps added another run in the eighth to take a convincing 7-0 lead, and then plated their final run on an RBI double from Shaw, taking an 8-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Maryland's last two runs proved to be the difference, as UCF fell just short of completing its comeback, scoring six in the bottom of the final inning.
Tom Josten singled to put the first man on base in the ninth for the Knights. A wild pitch on a 3-2 count walked Andrew Sundean and scored Tom Josten to put UCF's first run on the board. Nick Romano followed with a single up the middle to score Ben McCabe, who had doubled. Lex Boedicker walked to load the bases for Faurot. After a pitching change, Drew Faurot hit his second grand slam of the season, scoring pinch runner Greg Pettay, Romano and Boedicker.
Despite putting up six runs and batting around the lineup in the ninth, the Knights couldn't dig their way out of the eight-run hole, falling 2-1 in the series.
UP NEXT
UCF will go back on the road for its midweek matchup against the FAU Owls at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. This will be the second meeting with FAU this season, as the Knights look to avenge their 13-3 loss in their earlier contest.
American Athletic Conference play opens this weekend as UCF hosts rival South Florida Bulls in a three-game weekend series at home. The Knights will see action on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
