Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Knights drop their opening series
Only able to top FAU in one game despite hot bats totaling 30 runs
UCF’s No. 24-ranked baseball team earned a road win over FAU Sunday, but the Owls claimed the two previous contests against the Knights to claim the series victory.
The Knights’ bats got hot and the pitchers did just enough to seal a 15-6 win over the Owls Sunday.
The Knights scored 30 runs during back-to-back games, the most the team has scored during a two-game stretch since 2015.
Jordan Rathbone, Nick Romano and Ben McCabe all hit homers for the Knights.
Starting pitcher AJ Jones struck out seven in four innings. David Litchfield went 2⅓ innings and struck out five, giving up one run. Jack Sinclair took the mound in the seventh and closed out the Knights’ win.
It was a boost for the UCF pitchers, who were challenged all weekend by the Owls.
FAU freshman catcher Caleb Pendleton opened his college career with a bang Saturday, hitting two grand slams during a 12-run inning. The Owls went on to claim a 20-15 win over the Knights.
“Unbelievable, I’ve never seen it,” veteran FAU coach John McCormack said of Pendleton’s grand slams. “You’d have to look at some record books. He hit the first one, then it lines up and the guys were talking about it. Bobby Morgensen was sitting next to me and says, ‘This is not really gonna happen again?’ And sure enough it happened. And it turns out that we needed [the runs].”
While McCormack was proud of the rookie hitter, he saw much room to improve.
“Caleb was amazing … [but] it’s no secret we’ve just got to pitch better,” he said.
UCF pitchers were vulnerable from the start of the series.
FAU leadoff hitter Wilfredo Alvarez scored five runs, and freshman Nolan Schanuel drove in four RBI during the Owls’ 12-6 win over UCF.
UCF returns home to host Stetson at John Euliano Park Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.