UCF blasts 7 home runs, scores 22 to win opener
Ben McCabe and Nick Romano powered UCF baseball with multiple homers en route to an opening-night 22-5 victory over visiting Siena on Friday.
McCabe slammed three balls beyond the outfield wall while Romano homered twice to boost the Knights to 6-1 in openers under Greg Lovelady.
“It was a well-rounded game,” Lovelady said. “We’ve still got a lot of stuff to improve on but it was a good start.”
The Knights scored 4 runs in the bottom of the third inning, added 3 more in the fifth, put together an 8-run sixth inning and plated 6 in the seventh behind the strong bats of McCabe, Romano and Drew Faurot, the latter of whom hit a 3-run home run in the sixth.
The 7 home runs tied the program’s single-game record for the third time.
“We have a lot of experienced guys that have power in the lineup,” Lovelady said. “We have some young guys in the lineup that have the ability to do some damage, so it was a good night.”
Early in the game, the Knights announced a pledged donation of more than $5 million, the largest in UCF Athletics history, according to a news release.
The anonymous gift, which was made by a former UCF baseball player and his wife, includes $4 million in support of UCF’s baseball program and more than $1 million for UCF’s enhanced football campus, the release said.
“It’s huge,” Lovelady said about the donation. “Obviously exciting and game-changing. [We are] just really grateful and excited.”
Romano started the night with a 2-run home run to left center that scored Corey Robinson Two batters later McCabe tacked on 2 more runs by homering to right center after Tom Josten was hit by a pitch.
Robinson reached first base on an error to open the bottom of the fifth and Romano homered again. McCabe delivered a solo home run that put the Knights ahead 7-1 after five innings.
Siena, which led 1-0 after freshman Gavin Thorburn homered in the third, scored 3 runs in the sixth to make it 7-4.
That’s when the Knights broke open the game with an 8-run inning fueled by a pair of home runs from McCabe and Faurot.
First, Robinson scored outfielder John Rhys Plumlee. Josten hit an RBI double to bring in Romano, McCabe homered to left center to plate Josten and Faurot blasted a 3-run home run to left field, scoring Lex Boedicker and Andrew Brait.
Robinson tacked on another run in the inning when he singled through the left side to advance Cole Russo from third base.
“[Siena] got some momentum, especially in the sixth inning, and we come back with the eight [runs]. That really killed that momentum and put the game away,” Lovelady said. “We talk a lot about being able to answer when they put up runs and we did a great job doing that.”
The Knights led 15-4 through six innings and scored 6 more runs in the next inning, including a 3-run home run from freshman Brady Shannon, to bring the total to 21.
Keano Suarez added one more run in the eighth when he scored thanks to a Siena throwing error. The 22 runs set a program record for most in an opener.
“It was huge,” Romano said about the team’s offensive performance. “In my four years being here, that was one of the biggest offensive nights I’ve seen, so it was amazing.”