UCF Knights baseball coach Terry Rooney has stressed heavily his desire for UCF to be Orlando’s baseball team.
Although the Knights fell short on Tuesday by a score of 9-5 to the No. 1-ranked Florida Gators, a massive crowd and a respectable performance by a group of mostly junior college transfers and freshmen showed a lot to a crowd of 3,831 at Jay Bergman field.
Every single starter in the Florida lineup reached base, and all but left fielder Ryan Larson had a hit. Jonathan India — the team’s No. 9 hitter — went 3-for-5 and hit a mammoth home run.
This is a Gator team that has its sights set on Omaha, and not just getting there, but winning it.
UCF could also feasibly find themselves on that road as well. Maybe not this year, but this group certainly has the offensive potential to make things happen against some of the best pitching in the country. And the Knights showed it in the first of this home-and-home series with the Gators.
Down 3-0 after the first two innings, Florida starter Dane Dunning was perfect with four strikeouts. He looked utterly unhittable and UCF was in for a rough and long night.
Still UCF showed its mettle, never giving in and giving itself a chance. The Gators never got too far away from the Knights, a good sign for the young team still discovering its identity.
“I thought we had some really good at-bats tonight against some really good arms,” Rooney said. “Unfortunately, the difference in the game is that we gave them too much. Six free passes, two hit batters, two errors, that’s just not winning baseball.”
UCF showed its mettle and fought back from Florida’s initial push, scoring three runs in the third off of Denning to tie the game at three, backed by Austin Griffin, who lined a two-run single up the middle with the bases loaded.
The Knights also had some contributions from the bottom of the lineup, including four combined hits from Kam Gellinger (2 for 3) and Luke Hamblin (3 for 3), the team’s No. 8 and No. 9 hitters.
UCF’s pitching was a question mark coming into the season and it was no different on Tuesday. The Knights had six pitchers combine to give up nine runs on 14 hits, including six walks.
Andrew Deramo started for the Knights and struggled, giving up five runs on six hits with four walks in only three innings as his ERA ballooned to 8.64.
Juan Pimentel has been the Knights’ workhorse so far this year with 11 innings pitched coming in. But he had a rough night as well, giving up three runs on five hits, including four extra base hits in just 1 2/3 innings.
UCF was working to overcome that throughout the game.
After tying the game in the third inning, UCF’s momentum was quickly halted with a quick pair of runs by Florida in the top of the fourth. From there, Florida did not look back and were able to use relievers Nick Horvath and Frank Rubio for the remaining 5 2/3 innings.
“You only come back if you have confidence,” Rooney said. “We’re down three, we put up three, but we give up two rebound runs. That’s not winning baseball no matter who you’re playing.”
And it is one thing to make errors and give free passes to the likes of Siena or Bethune-Cookman, but another entirely when it’s the top-ranked team in the country.
The Knights showed their ability to fight and that they are intimidated by no opponent, which will undoubtedly build confidence going forward, but with a tough series against Rice on the weekend and a record sitting at 6-3 — not to mention the trip to Gainesville on Wednesday for the rematch, UCF has work to do to enter the nation’s elite in 2016.
“The University of Central Florida is one of the best baseball programs in the country, and so is the University of Florida,” Rooney said. “And it’s two programs who respect each other and play hard. It’s one of those things. You respect everyone and fear no one, but we just have to continue to get better.”
