2000, 2001 and 2002 UCF Baseball Teams to be Recognized During Saturday’s Game vs. Houston2000, 2001 and 2002 UCF Baseball Teams to be Recognized During Saturday’s Game vs. Houston

2000, 2001 and 2002 UCF Baseball Teams to be Recognized During Saturday’s Game vs. Houston

by Nick Porcelli

ORLANDO – During Saturday’s Big 12 Conference game against Houston, the 2000, 2001 and 2002 UCF baseball teams will be honored for their historic contributions to the program.

Under the direction of UCF’s winningest coach in program history—Jay Bergman (994-594-3 over 26 seasons)—the 2000-2002 seasons marked one of the most successful periods in program history. The Black and Gold would win its first three regular season conference titles at the Division I level and make back-to-back-to-back consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In addition, the 2001 and 2002 squads also won Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament titles. The three teams would put together an overall record of 135-55. The 2001 squad finished the season with 51 wins, which is the second-most wins in program history, only one less the 1985 squad.

The Knights would earn some incredible victories in this period. The 2000 squad would defeat the likes of No. 5 Alabama, No. 7 Florida State, No. 11 LSU, No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 24 Clemson. The Black and Gold would take part at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional and went 2-2, defeating Evansville and No. 7 Florida State.

The 2001 Knights would earn three-game sweeps over No. 8 Stetson and No. 11 Alabama. As a result of winning that year’s Atlantic Sun Conference, then called the Trans America Athletic Conference, tournament, the team earned a spot in the NCAA Columbia Regional. The Black and Gold would go 2-2, defeating Princeton and No. 13 South Carolina.

In 2002, the team would post a 23-7 conference record and win the conference championship to earn a spot in that year’s NCAA Tallahassee Regional, where they finished with a win over USF and a 1-2 record.

Knight Nation saw some historic individual seasons during this period. In 2000, Dustin Brisson (3B) recorded a school record 27 doubles and Jason Arnold (P) averaged 15.73 strikeouts per nine innings. Also, in 2001 Justin Pope set the single-season program record for wins with 15.

The 2000-2002 squads also received a number of individual awards. In 2001, Pope became the program’s inaugural First Team All-American selection and Arnold and Jeremy Kurella (SS) were named to the Third Team All-Americans that same season. Dee Brown (OF) and Clay Timpner were named First Team Freshmen All-Americans in 2002. Burt Clark (LHP) and Paul Lubrano (LHP) were honorable mentions to the Freshman All-American team in 2002, while current Knights head coach Rich Wallace was an honorable mention in 2000. Wallace played on all three of these teams, as he played for UCF from 2000-2003.

In 2000, Arnold, Brisson (3B), Matt Bowser (1B), Mike Myers (SS), Mark Batia (OF), Chase Kennedy (P), Mike Fox (2B) and Wallace were named to the all-conference team. Arnold, Pope, Fox, Kruella (SS), Ehrnsberger (3B) and Jeremy Frost (C) were named all-conference in 2001, while Myers, Dee Brown (OF) Mark Michael (P) and David Mann (DH) made the team in 2002.

The three teams would see 15 players get selected in the MLB Draft. The highest drafted player was Pope, who was selected in the first round of the 2001 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 28th overall pick.

Two players from this era, Timpner and Fox, would make it to the Major Leagues. Timpner would play for the San Francisco Giants in 2008. Fox would play for the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox in 2010.