No. 17 Knights claw back to get the series victory
The UCF baseball team has a lot of good qualities. The No. 17 Knights can outscore their opponents thanks to a pretty complete lineup. Their pitchers, led by a dominant bullpen, can put up zeroes consistently. They can manufacture runs with small ball and speed.
But the quality coach Greg Lovelady likes most is an intangible trait that showed during a couple of weekend series games versus Cal State Northridge: His Knights are tough.
That mental toughness was prominent in Sunday’s finale as the Knights (11-2) fought back from trailing 4-0 to to earn a 6-4 win and take three of four games from the Matadors (8-3).
“This whole week, we didn’t play the best, but we were able to find ways to win. That’s what tough teams are able to do,” Lovelady said Sunday. “When you look back at teams that are in the regionals, Super Regionals and the College World Series, you’ve got to find ways to win when you don’t play your best.”
Sunday’s starting pitcher, Joe Sheridan, was certainly not at his best out of the gate. After allowing three runs through his first two starts this season, Sheridan gave up four runs in the first inning to the Matadors.
But his teammates got all of those runs back in the second inning, and Sheridan moved forward to hold CSUN off the board before departing in the fifth. Lovelady called Sheridan’s outing after such a rocky beginning “a true sign of maturity and a true sign of toughness.”
He added: “After the first inning, both Joe Sheridan and the team could have just thrown in the towel,” Lovelady added. “… I’m proud of the kids for finding a way.”
Catcher Ben McCabe broke the 4-4 tie in the fourth inning with a solo home run, his second in as many days. The Knights tacked on an insurance run in the eighth while four UCF relief pitchers combined to permit just one hit over the final five innings.
“This bullpen is something really special only because we have so many weapons,” said right-hander Billy McKay, who struck out CSUN slugger Jayson Newman, the reigning Big West Conference Player of the Week, with the go-ahead runs on base to end the seventh and preserve the lead.
In UCF’s three victories this weekend, seven relievers allowed a total of one run through 15 innings of work.
On Saturday, the Knights clawed back from a pair of two-run deficits — 3-1 and 5-3 — in the nightcap of a doubleheader. The Matadors helped matters by committing seven errors, but the Knights’ bats did plenty of work on their own in a four-run sixth inning that featured five singles. By the end of that 10-5 triumph, nine UCF players had recorded at least one hit.
“It doesn’t matter how many runs we get down, we have confidence that we’re going to put up a lot of runs,” freshman third baseman Matt Archer said. “From top to bottom, everyone’s contributing and everyone puts together great team at-bats.”
Cal State Northridge also grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Friday’s series opener, but again, UCF showed no panic. By the end of the first, it was already 3-2. By the end of the fourth, it was 4-4. And then the Knights broke the game open late with three runs in the sixth followed by five runs in the seventh.
“Just kept playing the game, kept going after them, chipping away, got to their bullpen and then we were able to deliver the knockout blow,” Lovelady said in his recap of Friday’s game.
The best performance from a UCF starting pitcher came from Trevor Holloway, who was a tough-luck loser in a 4-2 defeat Saturday afternoon. Holloway allowed two runs over six innings and struck out nine men for the third consecutive start. He has a 27:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 1.69 earned run average on the year.
But the impact of that loss faded once the Knights finished the weekend with a couple of comebacks. Those kinds of tough victories can make teams feel like there is nothing they can’t overcome.
It’s clear that is how the Knights right now.
“We truly believe we’re the best,” freshman outfielder Pablo Ruiz said. “We’re just a bunch of dogs. Nothing can stop us; that’s our mentality going in.”
UCF will be back in action Tuesday when it hosts the Jacksonville Dolphins (5-7). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at John Euliano Park. feel