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.
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.