NEW ORLEANS – Behind an 11-strikeout performance from Cameron Leiter and four home runs to tie the American Athletic Conference single-season record, the UCF baseball team won the series against Tulane with a 10-3 victory Sunday afternoon at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
Leiter threw five innings of two-hit ball and fanned a career-high 11 batters, not allowing a hit in the first four innings. He recorded a strikeout in each inning he pitched, striking out the side in the second and the fourth to earn his second win of the season on the mound.
The Knights improve to 27-20 on the season and 8-10 in AAC play, while the Green Wave fall to 14-34 overall and 7-11 in conference.
Drew Faurot opened the scoring in the second inning for the Knights with a two-run home run that scored Matt Cedarburg after he doubled down the left field line.
The Knights broke open the game with a five-run fourth inning. Nick Romano led off the inning with a walk and Lex Boedicker moved him to third on a double to center field. Cedarburg knocked a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Romano for UCF's first run of the inning. John Rhys Plumlee ripped an 0-1 pitch deep to center field for his eighth home run of the season to score Boedicker. Tom Josten and Andrew Brait drew back-to-back walks, and McCabe cleared the bases on an RBI single down the right field line to score two more, giving the Knights a convincing 7-0 lead.
Two more home runs in the fifth inning wrapped up the scoring for the Knights. Cedarburg barreled his second homer of the season to left field, marking the ninth Knight with multiple home runs on the season. Faurot smashed a 1-1 pitch deep to left field for his second of the day.
In a spectacular switch-hitting performance, Faurot hit a home run from both sides of the batter's box. With two shots to left field, Faurot became the seventh Knight to hit multiple home runs in a single game. He is the fourth Knight with 13 home runs this season and is one shy of tying Rylan Thomas' 2017 freshman home run record (14).
Jacob Marlowe entered the game on the mound for the Knights in the sixth inning, allowing no runs and two hits in three innings, striking out four.
Up Next
The Knights travel to Ohio for a pair of midweeks at Ohio State Tuesday and Wright State Wednesday, before a three-game conference series at Cincinnati.