The UCF Knights (8-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on their way to a convincing 11-2 win over the Florida Gators (7-2) on Wednesday night in Orlando. Florida
A night after barely squeaking by the Knights in a 4-3 win, Florida couldn’t muster anything at the plate and their trusty pitching fell flat.
Michael Byrne (1-1) earned the start and brought a perfect 0.00 ERA to the mound at Jay Bregman Field. The Knights got to Byrne early when Elli Putnam tripled to center field on the third pitch of the game. An infield single from Hamblin four pitches later put UCF on the board and Luke Hamblin scored two batters later after stealing second to put himself into scoring position.
Byrne settled down in the second but UCF went back to work in its half of the third inning. Hamblin reached on an error by Mike Rivera, who was making his first appearance at first base, and stole second. Kyle Marsh launched a 2-0 fastball just over Austin Langworthy’s glove in left field for a two-run home run. Ryan Crile kept the inning going when he reached on an error by Byrne and scored six pitches later when Rylan Thomas doubled to left center. Byrne would work out of the inning but not before giving up three runs on two hits and two errors.
Florida’s struggles at the plate continued on Wednesday. Six times the Gators were able to get the leadoff man on base only to squander away five of those opportunities without getting a run. After a 5-31 night at the plate the team batting average dropped to just .247 on the season.
Florida was able to get a run across the plate in the fifth inning. Nick Horvath’s one out double down the left field line got things started. Horvath moved to third on Dalton Guthrie’s fly out to right field and Horvath would score on a balk, the third balk of the game, second by UCF starting pitcher Joseph Sheridan. UCF answered with a run of its own to maintain a five run lead at 6-1. They extended the lead to 9-1 with a three-run bottom of the sixth and answered a Gator run in the top of the seventh with one of their own.
Kevin O’Sullivan, predictably, was not happy with his team’s performance Wednesday.
“Quite frankly, it was probably one of the worst games that we’ve played since we’ve been here. I will say this, it’s the best thing that could have happened to us at this point,” he said. “It gives us a chance to reevaluate some guys, maybe catch some guys attention. We’ve got a couple guys, it’s their draft year, and they’re not handling it very well right now. They will, but right now this is probably the best thing that could happen to us at this point so we can catch their attention and get ready to play this weekend.”
Florida will get a day off before hosting Columbia at McKethan Stadium this weekend starting at 6:30 pm on Friday night.