ORLANDO – It was a record-breaking night at John Euliano Park, as the UCF baseball team set the program record for home runs in a single game with eight and also broke the program mark for home runs in a single season (83) en route to a 16-10 win against North Florida Tuesday night.
"We talk a lot about leaving a legacy here," head coach Greg Lovelady said. "A lot of guys have worked hard - Ben [McCabe] has been here for five years, Tom [Josten] for four, [Nick] Romano for four, and Lex [Boedicker] being a second year - you've got a lot of guys that have worked really, really hard, so it's good to see those guys do something cool."
Prior to Tuesday's contest the single-season home run record by a team was 78, backed by Chris Duffy's 21 home run campaign in 2010. The Knights had combined for 75 home runs entering the game and added eight to the total on home runs from Lex Boedicker (3), John Rhys Plumlee (2), Ben McCabe, Andrew Sundean and Cole Russo for a record-breaking 83 home runs on the year. The single-game record for home runs in a game was also broken (8), eclipsing the previous mark of seven achieved most recently on opening night against Siena.
Boedicker's three home runs tied the UCF single-game record and it was the first multi-homer game of his career. Plumlee's two-homer game was also the first of his career.
"It's about extending our lineup and making it nine really difficult outs," Lovelady said on the depth of the offensive performance. "It's a testament to [assistant coaches] Ted [Tom] and [Chris Cates] for working their tails off to prepare those guys."
After North Florida (22-23) struck first with three runs in the top of the first, the Knights (25-19) responded in a big way, with a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the frame from Sundean and Boedicker. After the Ospreys regained the lead in the third, 5-4, the Knights answered with eight runs in the next three frames to take the lead and never trailed again in the game. Sundean notched his third RBI of the night on a double to center field which scored McCabe, and Plumlee launched a home run to right field to tie both the game at 6-6 and the program home run record at 78.
UCF produced a big fifth inning, scoring six runs on five hits. The first was a single to center field from Nick Romano that allowed McCabe to score from second. Boedicker followed with the program record-breaking 79th home run, ripping the first pitch to deep right field to score Romano for his second homer of the night. A base hit by Matt Cedarburg allowed him to score on Plumlee's second home run of the night, as he rocketed the 2-1 pitch to right center for the Knights' ninth and 10th runs of the evening.
The Ospreys got two across in the top of the sixth, and once again, the Knights responded loudly. McCabe ripped the first pitch of the sixth inning deep to center field for a solo home run, marking the 15th of his season and tying him for seventh on the single-season home runs list in program history. In two pitches, Sundean was hit by a pitch and Romano got his second base-hit of the night with Boedicker on deck. In a feat last accomplished by McCabe on opening night, Boedicker crushed his third home run of the evening to give the Knights a convincing 16-7 lead, marking the Knights' program-record eighth of the evening. In his first-ever multi-home run game, Boedicker owned both jacks which set program records.
"We kept putting pressure on them, kept doing good things," said Lovelady. "We got some guys in the game and some pitchers that hadn't pitched in a while on the mound, so a lot of good today and we've got to try to build off of it."
Julian Balzer was credited with the win in the contest, earning the first of his career. Kris Sosnowski closed the game, going two scoreless innings and notching three strikeouts, setting career highs in both.
Up Next
UCF kicks off an eight-game road trip this week with Tulane to continue American Athletic Conference play 7 p.m. (EDT) Friday, 7 p.m. (EDT) Saturday, and 2 p.m. (EDT) Sunday, May 5-7, before traveling to Ohio to take on Ohio State, Wright State and Cincinnati next week.