Baseball Pulls Out Midweek Battle over Bethune-Cookman, 5-4Baseball Pulls Out Midweek Battle over Bethune-Cookman, 5-4

Baseball Pulls Out Midweek Battle over Bethune-Cookman, 5-4

by James Warnick
Box Score

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Zak Skinner delivered a clutch two-out two-run go-ahead single in the top of the eighth inning to lead UCF baseball to a 5-4 victory over in-state foe Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

The Knights improved to 22-15 overall with the victory and have now won 13 straight contests over B-CU. The Wildcats dropped to 29-12 on the season and had a six-game winning streak come to a close with the setback.

“Bethune-Cookman is a well-coached team and played really hard. You can tell they have some good things going. We had to earn every bit of this win,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “There were some two-out swings that got us some big hits. Some really good pitching out of the bullpen, and an outstanding start from Roman Kimball. Hopefully this will get us going for the weekend.”

Bethune-Cookman struck first with a pair of runs in the opening inning to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Andrey Martinez opened the scoring with a home run and Maikol Lucena added an RBI double.

The Knights then loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning and Andrew Williamson managed to cut the deficit in half with an RBI infield single to make it a 2-1 score.

The Wildcats looked to extend their lead in the bottom of the second when Darryl Lee blasted a ball to deep right-center, but UCF’s JD Rogers was able to get back and take away a home run by perfectly timing a leaping catch at the wall to keep it a 2-1 contest.

After a scoreless third inning, UCF picked up two more runs in the fourth to take a 3-2 advantage. Jordan Lodise started things off with a hustle-double and Austin Jacobs drove him home with an RBI single to left field to tie the game. Following a Williamson single, John Smith III then gave the Black and Gold the lead with an RBI single to short. With the bases later loaded and two away in the frame, Rogers drove a ball to deep center field, but B-CU’s centerfielder Christopher Watson was able to get back and make the catch up against the wall to end the inning.

After allowing two early runs, UCF starter Roman Kimball settled down from there as he put zeros on the board over his next four innings of work. Over a career-long 5.0 innings, Kimball allowed just two runs on five hits while tying a season-high with four strikeouts. He saved his best inning for last by retiring the Wildcats in order in the fifth inning.

With the Knights having gone to the bullpen in the sixth, B-CU rallied for two runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 4-3 lead. Following a double from former Knight Erick Almonte, Bethune-Cookman’s Jorge Rodriguez tied things up with an RBI single. With runners on the corners and one out, Jose Fernandez hit a pop up in foul territory on the first base side that UCF’s Landon Moran was able to run down for the out, but Almonte came in to score the go-ahead run on the play as the throw got away at the plate to give B-CU the lead.

Following a scoreless seventh inning, James Hankerson Jr. led off the eighth for the Knights with a single. Lodise then moved the pinch-runner Cayden Gaskin to scoring position with a groundout. Following an intentional walk to Williamson and an infield single by Smith III, the senior catcher Skinner delivered a clutch go-ahead two-run single with two outs to score both Gaskin and Williamson and give the Knights a 5-4 lead.

Senior right-hander Kevin Schoneboom tossed his third scoreless inning of relief in the eighth and fellow senior righty Kirs Sosnowski entered and pitched a one-two-three ninth to seal the victory.

Schoneboom earned the win in relief after tossing a season-high 2.2 innings of hitless and scoreless relief to move to 2-1 on the season. Sosnowski then faced the minimum in the ninth to earn his team-leading third save of the season. B-CU’s Pablo Torres was tagged with his first loss of the season in relief to drop to 2-1.

Skinner drove in a game-high two runs, while Williamson and Smith III collected three hits apiece and each drove in a run. Javier Crespo also had a nice day at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a walk. Lucena and Jose Fernandez paced Bethune-Cookman by each collecting two hits and driving in a run.

The victory for UCF marked its second win over its last four games.

On Deck

The Knights will stay on the road for a Big 12 series at Utah this weekend in Salt Lake City. The series will run Friday to Sunday at Utah’s brand-new America First Ballpark. Friday’s opener is set for 8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. MT and will air live on ESPN+ and FM 96.9 The Game.