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.
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.