UCF baseball: Worst to first
UCF baseball earns 3-2 win over rival USF to clinch league crown
As Jason Bahr got the final out in the ninth, years of frustration for the UCF baseball team vanished in seconds. Fans sprinted onto the field as Bahr was mobbed on the mound by his teammates and quickly found himself at the bottom of a dogpile.
Players had tears in their eyes as they put on their 2017 AAC champions shirts.
They hugged and cheered after UCF clinched a share of the regular-season American Athletic Conference title and the No. 1 seed in the AAC Tournament with a 3-2 win over rival USF Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 1,751 at the UCF Baseball Complex.
First-year UCF coach Greg Lovelady battled to maintain his composure when he was asked during his postgame press conference what the title meant to him.
“I was choking back tears a ton just because I’m so
happy to see those guys be able to celebrate,” he said. “All the hard work we’ve put in. Making the move with my family and telling them it was going to be worth it.”
Lovelady paused and took a second to hold back tears before adding, “It doesn’t truly validate it, but in some sense it does. Maybe not in my eyes but just for my family and stuff and the people I left in Ohio to come here and do this, maybe makes the transition a little bit easier.
“It’s been an awesome day. I’ll never forget it. I’m proud of these kids.”
Bahr struck out Cameron Montgomery on an 0-2 count, sealing the Knights’ first regular-season conference title since 2004. Houston defeated Cincinnati to earn a share of the regularseason title, but the Knights own the tiebreaker over the Cougars and will open the league tournament as the top seed.
UCF (38-18, 15-9 AAC) made a dramatic jump from worst to first in a one-year span.
The Knights finished tied for last in 2016 and were picked to finish tied for last in the 2017 preseason AAC poll. Few knew what to expect from the Knights after former head coach Terry Rooney left to take another job.
But the players embraced Lovelady’s laid-back coaching style and he steered them to an improbable regularseason conference title in his first season.
“We had high hopes for us this year,” outfielder Kyle Marsh said. “We took it dayby-day throughout the fall and we knew we could accomplish a lot coming into this season. We’re glad we made it happen.”
It was fitting that in his first year, Lovelady gave the ball to true freshman starting pitcher Joseph Sheridan, showing the complete trust between players and coaches.
However, it wasn’t an ideal start.
USF (40-15, 14-10) had three consecutive hits, capped by a Luke Borders RBI single. Sheridan settled down from there, showing the composure that has defined his rookie season.
“[USF] really jumped on it quick, and I don’t think I was ready for that, but then I got into a groove,” Sheridan said.
Sheridan (10-4) pitched seven innings striking out eight, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits.
The offense picked him up, led by Marsh, who went 2-for-2 with two runs scored. The Knights took a 3-1 lead into the seventh before USF amped up the pressure. The Bulls used small ball to cut the deficit to one and had two runners on before Sheridan struck out Borders on his 98th and final pitch of the day, ending the threat.
“He easily could’ve gotten flustered and got out of sorts, but not Joe Sheridan, he’s too composed,” Lovelady said.
UCF will play East Carolina Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the AAC Tournament in Clearwater. The Knights will be riding high on the emotion of Saturday’s game.
“I’m never going to forget this day, but I know that they’re never going to forget it,” Lovelady said. “These are the types of memories that are going to last a lifetime. In 20 years when they come back here and see where this program is at, they’re going to know they were the first team to start that mission and get us on the right track.
“I’ll be forever grateful for that.”