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.
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.