Knights drop series to USF
After opening a three-game series with a 10-4 win over its rival South Florida, the UCF baseball team dropped two straight to the Bulls this past weekend in Tampa.
The Knights (28-19, 11-7 AAC) won decisively Friday evening thanks to strong pitching from sophomore Ben Vespi, who went 6 innings and struck a career-high 8 batters while allowing just 2 walks and 1 earned run.
Entering the ninth inning in Game 1 of the series, UCF led 10-1. The Knights scored 4 runs in the second inning, 3 in the sixth and 1 each in the third, fifth and eighth frames.
Freshman outfielder Lex Boedicker went 4-of-5 from the plate with 2 RBIs, while redshirt freshman infielder Michael Brooks batted in 4 runners by going 2 of 4.
The Bulls (25-22, 6-12 AAC) brought in 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth to cut the deficit to 6 but couldn’t complete the comeback.
South Florida got the best of UCF in the next two games, limiting the Knights to just 2 runs combined.
On Saturday, USF redshirt sophomore Carmine Lane homered in the bottom of the first inning and later hit an RBI single bringing in redshirt junior Jarrett Eaton.
Trailing 2-0 in the seventh, the Knights had to rally. Brooks grounded into a double play with the bases loaded, but Boedicker scored to cut the deficit to 2-1.
With a runner on third, UCF was unable to tie the score. In the next inning, the Knights once again left a runner in scoring position and were unable to bring in redshirt senior infielder Noah Orlando, a three-year letter winner at Edgewater High School, from second base.
Like Game 2, the third game was 2-1 in the eighth Sunday.
This time, however, USF added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning when redshirt junior Nick Gonzalez scored on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.
The Bulls hit into a double play on the next at-bat, but the damage had already been done as they won 3-1.
The Knights are hoping to get back on the right track when they travel to Coral Gables for a non-conference matchup against No. 6 Miami.
UCF and Miami met March 16 in Orlando when the Knights won 10-5. The Hurricanes have gone 24-7 — a stretch that includes a 14-game win streak — since that loss.
The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Alex Rodriguez Park.
As of Tuesday night, UCF sat in third place in the AAC standings behind ECU and Houston, the latter hosting the Knights for a three-game series this weekend.