Writer - Austin Fackler
Orlando, FL - The UCF Knights were looking to snap a three-game losing streak on Friday night against Savannah State.
Chris Williams was on the mound for the Knights who was looking to pick up his second win of the season against the Tigers. After retiring the side in order in the first inning Williams got into a jam in the second but received some help from his infield who turned a big double play to help keep Savannah State scoreless in the top of the second. UCF got the bats going in the bottom of the 3rd when Alejo doubled down the left field line and later scored on a Thomas single to right field to give the Knights an early 1-0 lead After Williams again cruised through the top half of the inning the Knights would get some more offense in the bottom of the 4th that was started again with a double to left field by Wingo, after a wild pitched allowed him to get to third a Heiser Single to center would score Wingo to give the Knights a 2-0 lead. The Knights offense would continue to produce as they scored in the bottom of the 6th with a Osik homer to left to increase UCF’S lead to 3-0, and later in the bottom of the 7th Thomas would be hit by a pitch and steal second and after advancing to third would score on a wild pitch to give the Knights a 4-0 lead and that is all they would need. Savannah State had all they could handle with Williams who Struck out 9 batters while only allowing 4 hits and one walk through seven innings pitched. Williams would be relieved by Montgomery in the top of the 8th with the Knights leading 4-0 and that would be all she wrote as the Knights bullpen was able to slam the door to give UCF their second win on the season and improve to 2-3 on the season The Knights will be looking for their 3rd win of the season and second straight against the Tigers on Saturday night and 6:30pm.
Written by Austin Fackler
OVIEDO, Fla. - It was a beautiful day for baseball as the Knights looked to come out of their opening weekend 2-1.
The Knights were sitting at 1-1 on the season already after opening their season on Friday, coming into Sunday they were battling the also 1-1 Samford Bulldogs. UCF came in ranked as the 22nd college baseball team in the country. Samford got the scoring started in the top of the third when Troy Dixon tripled down the right field line scoring Sam Teague which gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Austin Edens singled to center, which allowed Dixon to score giving Samford a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 4th however, UCF’S bats would come alive with Ray Alejo doubling and then stealing third. Then after an overthrow at third Alejo scored, the inning would not end there though. Following the score, Dallas Beaver and Brody Wofford were both hit by pitches and Tyler Osik walked to load to bases for pinch hitter Chandler Robertson. He would make the most of his opportunity , singling to right scoring two to help the Knights grab a 3-2 lead. The Knights bats would go quiet until the 7th inning when Matt Mika doubled down the left field line and after stealing third scored on another throwing error at third base which gave UCF a 4-2 lead. The Knights looked to be in control of the game heading into the top of the 9TH. However, the Bulldogs would not go away quietly, coming out swinging the bats getting two men on base quickly. Those both turned into runs for Samford tying the game at 4. Shortly after Samford would regain the lead on a single from Ryan Crockett that the Bulldogs would not relinquish. The Knights threatened in the bottom of the 9th as Robertson singled and was replaced by Max Wood for his speed, but it would not be enough after a single from Mika, Wood would try and score from second and was thrown out at home to end the game with Samford winning 5-4. The Knights next game will be played at Stetson on Tuesday starting at 6:30
Written by Brian Pohl
OVIEDO, Fla.- On the opening weekend of the 2018 college baseball season, John Euliand Park in Orlando, Florida welcomes three teams to UCF’s home park for a round robin tournament. The second night of action would bring us the 22nd ranked UCF Knights going up against the Rice Owls, where late-inning heroics by the Owls offense would lead them to a 5-4 victory over the Knights.
The loss moves UCF to 1-1 on the season, and the Knights will look to bounce back against Samford tomorrow to finish off their opening weekend round robin play. Despite the loss, UCF was given a strong starting pitching performance from sophomore Joe Sheridan, who gave the Knights 6 solid innings of work. Allowing just three hits in the outing, Sheridan was able to keep his pitch count in check and let his defense work behind him. Two inning-ending double plays in the fourth and fifth innings would get Sheridan out of trouble, and he handed the ball to his bullpen without giving up a run. Lovelady spoke on Sheridan's performance saying, “I mean it was just great. He got a bunch of groundballs, down in the bottom of the [strikezone] missing barrels. He got pitches when he needed and made big pitches.” Offense was hard to come by for the Knights for most of the game, as they faced off against a strong starting pitching performance from Rice’s Matt Canterino. Striking out eight UCF hitters, Canterino looked to be in full control, but the Knights would battle in the bottom of the sixth inning, forcing Rice head coach Wayne Graham to go to his bullpen. It was here where the Knights would strike, as sophomore Rylan Thomas would deliver a clutch sacrifice fly, driving in the first run of the game, and giving UCF a 1-0 lead. The Knights would get one more run in the inning off the bat of junior Tyler Osik, who hit a line drive single into left field, extending the UCF lead to 2-0. Rice would get one run back in the top of the 7th inning with a rbi single by senior Chace Sarchet, getting the Owls right back into the game. The heroics would come in the 8th inning, where, with a runner on base, freshman Justin Collins would launch a two-run home run over the left field wall, giving the Owls the 3-2 advantage in the late stages of the game. The Owls would extend their lead in the top of the ninth, giving them a 5-2 lead, and the bullpen would hold off a two-out bottom of the ninth rally by UCF to win the game 5-4. A big story in the loss for UCF was the play of their defense. Four errors on the night extended innings that would wind up costing them the win. Coach Lovelady was obviously disappointed in the play of the defense and spoke about the errors saying, “I just think we have got to be better mentally and be able to find a way to help the team win. If you are not doing one thing you’ve got to do the other. Our infield is supposed to be one of our strengths and to see those guys play that way is just frustrating.” Overall this was a tough loss for the Knights, who took a 2-1 lead late into the game, but the deficit became too large to overcome when they attempted to make their comeback in the final inning of the game. Splitting games against #15 UVA and Rice is nothing to scoff out, however and the Knights should be able to bounce back and build off the success they had in 2017. First pitch of UCF and Samford is Sunday at 2:00 p.m from John Euliano Park in Orlando, Florida.
Written by: Brian Pohl
ORLANDO, Fla.- The reigning American Athletic Conference champion and 22nd ranked UCF Knights opened the 2018 season with a 6-3 upset victory over the 15th ranked UVA Cavaliers.
In the second year under UCF head coach Greg Lovelady, the Knights look to repeat the successes they had in 2017, where they won their first AAC championship since joining in 2014. They started their 2018 season off with a bang as they outplayed perennial powerhouse UVA in their season opener. Thanks to clutch hitting and a shutdown bullpen performance, the UCF Knights move to 1-0 on the season and will look to keep momentum as they continue play in the opening weekend tournament. Lovelady on the victory, “That’s a big win, but like I told [the team] you don’t get rings and win championships on opening day so we need to come out tomorrow and play with that same opening day mentality against a really really good team.” The three and four hitters of the UCF lineup were the stars of the show, producing five of the six runs for the Knights in the opener. First baseman Rylan Thomas produced the first run of the game with a rbi single in the first inning, but his highlight came in the bottom of the third, where he connected for a two-run home run in the bottom of the third, giving the Knights a 3-1 advantage. The Cavs would even the game up at three, but it would be Dallas Beaver’s time to shine in the bottom of the fifth inning. The lefty would deliver an opposite-field home run, giving the Knights a 5-3 lead heading into the second half of the game. The pair of sophomores will be a big piece for this UCF squad and will be called upon often, hitting out of the three and four spots in the lineup. The Knights would extend their lead to 6-3 in the 8th with a rbi double by Brandon Hernandez, giving us our final score. Lovelady joked when asked about picking sophomore Dallas Beaver to breakout this season and his performance saying, “It makes me look like a genius right?” The starting pitcher for UCF was Junior Chris Williams, who gave the Knights five solid innings in the first game of the season. Limiting the Cavaliers to three runs in his five innings of work, Williams did enough to get the job done and handed the ball off to his bullpen for the final innings. In relief of Williams was JJ Montgomery, who would shut UVA down for four shutdown innings of work, including a rare four-inning save. Recording six strikeouts, Montgomery made quick work of the Cavs, only allowing just two base runners in his outing. Lovelady on Montgomery, “ JJ was phenomenal, he scared me a little those first couple hitters going 3-0 but I told him this was strategically part of the plan was to use those two guys[Williams and Montgomery] the whole game and it worked to perfection which rarely ever happens.” Consistent work out of the bullpen will be a key to success for the Knights, and if the opening game is any indication, then UCF is in great shape to contend to repeat as AAC champions in 2018. UCF takes on another tough challenge in Rice Saturday, where a victory would send a message across college baseball that the 2018 Knights are for real. First pitch of UCF vs Rice is at 5:00 p.m. from John Euliano Park in Orlando, Florida.
Written By: Joe Zollo
In their first American Conference action of the season, the UCF Knights welcomed in the Houston Cougars for a three-game series. The Cougars walked in with their heads high but forgot to bring their talents to Orlando. The matchup between the two teams featured the number one pitchers from each team going head to head. The Houston Cougars brought in Seth Romero while the Knights opposed with Robby Howell. Romero had 62 strikeouts heading into the game, which is tied for third in all of the D1 college baseballs with Gonzaga’s Eli Morgan. Romero added a career-high 14 strikeouts to his total tonight but could not come away with the win. To start the game, Romero had 10 strikeouts in the first four innings, but he still couldn’t prevent the Knights from scoring. In the fourth inning, Kyle Marsh, Eli Putnam, and Logan Heiser all hit three straight doubles to bring in three runs for the Knights. After a clean fifth inning, Romero allowed a two-run bomb to Brooks Morgan and that ultimately ended up putting the game out of reach for the Cougars. Houston did have a solo home run for the game's first run and did produce another in the sixth but other than that, their offense was non-existent. Robby Howell pitched six innings and allowed the Cougars their only two runs, but the bullpen came in as a safety net. Through three innings, the relievers retired nine straight batters while striking out five of them. Some stand out Knights were SS Kam Gellinger, 1B Rylan Thomas, and 2B Matthew Mika. Gellinger struck out twice at the plate, but his six assists and stellar play in the field made a difference in the game tonight for UCF. Rylan Thomas also had a poor performance at the plate, but he too was fantastic in the field, practicing his stretching to help his team receive many crucial outs while adding nine putouts for himself. Finally, Matthew Mika extends his hitting streak to 13 games with his bouncing single into right field, and he helped in the field with a couple of assists. The story of the game was big plays for UCF and nothing on the other end for Houston. The Knights had three doubles and a home run while the Cougars had one double with one home run. Houston catcher Connor Wong allowed multiple passed balls that resulted in UCF to advance into scoring position very easily while catcher Logan Heiser did not allow a single ball to go by him. By looking at Houston’s starter Seth Romero’s stat line, you would believe that the Cougars would have won this game behind his 14 strikeouts, but they could not get anything going on offense. Romero has the arsenal to have a record better than 3-3, but his wild pitches got the best of him this evening. The game ends with the Knights winning 5-2 over the Cougars in game one of this three-game series. Game two will be played on April Fools day at Jay Bergman Field with Houston sending out Mitch Ullom to oppose UCF’s Juan Pimentel, who has the lowest ERA of any Knight starting this weekend.
Written By: Joe Zollo
(Orlando, FL) Coming off of a 15-0 blowout win to end the Dartmouth series on Sunday, the UCF Knights welcome in the Jacksonville University Dolphins for a quick one game series. The Dolphins should have stayed back in Jacksonville because this was very ugly, very fast.
The story of this game was the poor pitching and defense of Jacksonville. Starter for the Dolphins, Nathan Disch, pitched five innings and allowed seven hits with four runs on top of that. This poor performance awarded him the loss, but he wasn’t the only issue. Every pitcher after Disch allowed at least two hits and one run. The 10-12 record of the Dolphins showed during this game with the poor playing in all facets of the game. The Knights looked like a whole different team from this past weekend. After losing the series to Dartmouth 1-2, the Knights were looking for a big win before their first American conference series against Houston this upcoming weekend, and they did not disappoint themselves. Two stand out players for UCF were Rylan Thomas and Matthew Mika. Thomas hit 3-5 at the plate while hitting a RBI double and a three-run home run. Mika went 4-5 hitting four singles and stealing 2nd… then 3rd… then home all in one time on the bases. This game also marked Mika’s 12th consecutive game with a hit, which is a season record for Knights. The Knights had bright spots all across the diamond tonight, from hitting at the plate to diving catches in the outfield, and even to the relief pitchers. Starter Chris Williams was awarded his first win of the season, but he wasn’t the best in the lineup tonight for the Knights. Relief pitcher Thad Ward had put UCF in a jam in the 8th inning, loading up the bases with just one out. Manager, Greg Lovelady, takes Ward out and calls in junior Jason Bahr who did not disappoint. Bahr struck out the next two batters to end the 7th and then struck out another two in the 8th to retire four of the six batters he faced on strikeouts. Closer Bryce Tucker then comes in for the 9th inning and strikeouts two and forces a shallow pop up to end the game with the Knights routing the Dolphins 10-1. Even though the Knights were expected to win this game, it is a big morale booster going into their first matchup of the season against conference opponent Houston. Houston is 18-5 on the season and edges out the Knights by a game in the American Conference. A sweep of the Cougars this weekend puts UCF in a fantastic spot to try and overtake USF for the top seed in the conference. The win tonight pushes UCF to 20-6 on the season and drops Jacksonville to an ugly 10-13. The Knights will host the Houston Cougars for a three-game series this weekend while the Dolphins travel down to Fort Myers to play a three-game series against Florida Gulf Coast University. Written by Joe Zollo Orlando, FL - Same team, same time, same result. UCF took on Dartmouth in their second of three games against the Big Green at home this season. Dartmouth took game one 4-3 and was looking to capitalize again on day two and they did just that.
The pitching matchup showcased two undefeated pitchers. Michael Danielak for the Big Green and Juan Pimentel for the Knights. Both shined, however one defense could not help their pitcher at all. The game was a battle of the arms through five innings. Pimentel would get the Knights out of a huge jam in the second inning and Danielak would silence any fantastic plays the UCF offense produced. In the sixth inning is where it all fell apart for UCF. Pimentel would allow a single to Dustin Shirley to start the inning and then force Michael Ketchmark to fly out to right field; then things went south. Pimentel walked the next batter and then allowed a single to his next batter to load the bases. The game could have been a whole different story if Ryan Crile had made a play on the next hit. Crile had an easy ground ball heading right towards him but then muffed it and allowed it to go into center field. This error allowed two Dartmouth players to score and then two more scored later on in the inning. Despite the four runs allowed in the 6th, none of them were earned runs against Pimentel, his defense just gave him no help. Dartmouth scored all their four runs in the 6th inning to take a 4-0 lead and the Knights could not get anything going at the plate. The only run for UCF came on a solo shot in the 8th inning by RF Josh Moser, his second of the season. The story of this game again was the fantastic pitching by Dartmouth and the poor defense by UCF. Dartmouth had zero errors while the Knights had three, with one proving extremely costly. Nothing to take away from the dominating team performance of Dartmouth but Michael Danielak, the starting pitcher for the Big Green, looked like an MLB prospect tonight. He went an unprecedented eight innings allowing only six hits, one run, and striking out eight Knights on his way to his fourth win of the season. His replacement in the 9th, Chris Burkholder, had another strong showing as Dartmouth’s closer; allowing only one hit and getting three outs on four batters. UCF has a lot to prove in the last game of the series against this Dartmouth team. Getting swept by the Big Green could prove as a huge hit to team morale. The Knights will play game three of this three game series against Dartmouth March 26, at Jay Bergman Field. After finishing this game, Dartmouth will head back to New England to play a quick road game against Quinnipiac before heading out again to play Penn. The Knights will then stay put for one game against Jacksonville before playing their first American Conference series against Houston. The loss tonight drops the Knights to 18-6 on the season while the win bumps Dartmouth to 10-5 this year.
Written By: Joe Zollo
(Orlando, FL) In game one of a three-game series, the Dartmouth Big Green travel from snowy New Hampshire to sunny Florida to take on the UCF Knights. The Knights came into the game 18-4 and came off a big win against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday. The Big Green came in 8-5 but looked like they have played more than just 13 games.
Dartmouth’s starting pitcher, Jack Fossand, came out firing on all cylinders. His vast array of pitches allowed him to take complete control over the UCF offense for the first two innings he was out there. UCF figured him out in the third and fourth, scoring their only runs of the game in those innings. On the other side of things, UCF starting pitcher, Robby Howell, was roughed up in this game. He pitched six innings, allowing three runs off of nine hits with one of those hits being a monster home run by Dartmouth’s first baseman Michael Ketchmark. Howell was ringed out for 105 pitches but did manage to add seven strikeouts, making his total for the season 36. After five innings the score was tied up 3-3, and it stayed that way until the 9th inning. In the 9th, closer Jordan Scheftz came into the game looking to keep the score the way it was so UCF could at least take the game to extra innings. Just by looking at the stat sheet you would think he did such a thing, but his infield did not help him. Scheftz walked two batters and also struck one out and did not allow a single hit in the 9th inning but second baseman, Matt Mika, made a crucial error that allowed Matt Feinstein of Dartmouth to slide into home, giving Dartmouth a 4-3 lead. A disastrous mistake for Mika who started the game off strong with two singles but then flew out and struck out and caused the eventual game-winning error. Dartmouth closer Chris Burkholder came in for the bottom of the 9th and had a 1-2-3 inning, striking out two and causing one to hit a groundball to third. Burkholder’s pitching in the 9th summed up Dartmouth’s pitching for the day. Home plate umpire, Bring King, had a very strict strike zone tonight and the Big Green pitchers knew how to find it. Four of the team’s ten strikeouts were ones where the batters just watched it go by. The pitchers were artists who knew how to paint the corners with accuracy and precision. The man catching the pitches played a huge role as well. Catcher Adam Gauthier made multiple highlights plays including stopping a wild pitch and throwing a man out at second base. There were little to no bright spots for UCF tonight, which does not resemble the fantastic year they are having so far behind new head coach Greg Lovelady. Lovelady has led them to an 18-5 record, which is good for second place in the American Conference. The Knights will take on Dartmouth again for game two of their three-game series with the Big Green at Jay Bergman Field on March 25.
Written By: Joe Zollo
Spring has rolled around in Florida, and the smell of the freshly cut grass and the crack of the bat means it’s time for another Knights vs. Gators baseball matchup. The first game will be played on February 28 at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium in Gainesville; the second game will be played two hours south at Jay Bergman Field on the UCF campus.
Last year, the Gators swept the Knights by winning both games, and their pitching staff even threw a shutout in game two. Bad news for the Knights is that the Gators are not getting any worse. They have been ranked in the top 5 for D1 Baseball since 2014 and went to the 2016 College World Series as the #1 seed, this year they are ranked #2 in the D1 National Baseball Rankings. Luckily the Knights are playing under a new head coach, Greg Lovelady, who had previously coached at Wright State College. In his three-year tenure, Lovelady led Wright State to a winning season every year with two D1 playoff berths. Even though both playoff appearances resulted in first-round exits, Lovelady is very familiar with winning and plans to bring that culture to the Knights for the 2017 season, and especially for these upcoming games against the Gators. So far, Lovelady’s winning culture has translated well with the Knights. The Knights are sitting at 5-0 and have been winning most of their games in tremendous fashion. The Gators, on the other hand, are 4-1 and have been in some close games in the early part of this season. The Gators only loss came against the Jacksonville University Dolphins, and it was a 9th inning comeback by the Dolphins. The Gators were up 2-0 in the 9th, but then the Dolphins scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to win it on a walk-off single. With the Gators not being as hot as usual this early in the season, it may be just what the Knights want and need. Beating the Gators will not only prove that the Knights are a legit contender this season, but it will also be a huge moral boost for the team. Anytime a team beats a nationally ranked team, especially when they are ranked #2 in the nation, the whole team gains confidence in themselves. You can listen to the February 28th Knights vs. Gators game on iHeartRadio and 96.9 The Game and catch their March 1st game at Jay Bergman Field or on UCFKnights.tv. |
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February 2018
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