1995 UCF Baseball Squad to be Honored During Friday’s Series Opener Against Houston1995 UCF Baseball Squad to be Honored During Friday’s Series Opener Against Houston

1995 UCF Baseball Squad to be Honored During Friday’s Series Opener Against Houston

by Nick Porcelli

ORLANDO – The 1995 UCF baseball team will be honored on the field for its historic season during Friday’s series opener against Houston.

Under the direction of UCF’s winningest coach in program history—Jay Bergman (994-594-3 over 26 seasons)—the 1995 Knights would go on to win the program’s second conference title at the Division I level by winning the Trans America Athletic Conference, known today as the Atlantic Sun Conference, tournament. This marked the Black and Gold’s second conference championship in a span of three years. As a result of winning the conference tournament, the 1995 Knights would make the NCAA tournament for only the third time in program history at the Div. I level. In total, the team put together a 49-13 overall record.

That season the Black and Gold earned wins over teams like Georgia, North Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, Vanderbilt and USF. UCF then earned a bid to take part at the NCAA Atlantic Regional in Tallahassee and went 1-2, earning a 6-5 win over South Alabama.

In addition to the conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance, the 1995 team is most remembered for putting together a 29-game winning streak. This still stands as the longest winning streak in school history and is just five games back of the NCAA record of 34 that is held by Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999).

The Black and Gold saw six players be named to the TAAC All-Conference team, as Jay Veniard (P) and Adam Johnson (OF) were first team selections, while Craig Cozart (P), Brad King (DH), Tony Marrillia (OF) and eventual TAAC tournament MVP Todd Tocco (1B) were named to the second team. the Knights also had a then-record seven players get selected in the 1995 MLB Draft. Veniard was the highest drafted player, being selected in the fifth round (No. 132 overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays. That season saw him make 16 appearances for the Knights, all of them starts, and put together an 8-3 record, a 3.38 ERA and record 27 strikeouts.

The Knights had seven players with a .300-plus batting average. They were led by Johnson, who recorded a .365 batting average, a .692 slugging percentage, 74 hits, 66 RBIs and eight home runs.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1995 UCF baseball team.