ORLANDO – UCF (16-10, 0-1) opened American Athletic Conference play with a rivalry matchup against South Florida (11-15, 1-0) at John Euliano Park on Friday night. The Knights dropped their fourth straight contest as Ethan Brown and Riley Skeen threw a combined 2-0 shutout for the Bulls.
Despite Ruddy Gomez allowing only four hits and two earned runs over 7.1 innings of work, he was charged with his first loss of the season. Cameron Crain pitched 2.0 innings of relief, allowing two hits and one inherited runner to score.
The Knights left six on base, including Tom Josten who extended his on-base streak to 30 games in the loss to the Bulls.
The Knights will look to bounce back in the second game of the War on I-4 series Saturday evening at 6 p.m.