UCF baseball is still searching for consistency, dropping two games in a three-game set at Rice in a difficult road challenge for the young team.
The Knights fell behind 4-1 in the opening game behind Cre Finfrock’s eight innings of work — he had seven strikeouts in addition to giving up the four runs Friday. The Knights scored two runs on a two-out double from Ryan Crile but could not bring him home to tie the game as the Knights fell 4-3.
UCF did not get the best from its ace, but he kept the team in the game. The Knights just needed to scatter enough hits to bring home some runs and give themselves a chance in the end.
Finfrock pitched his second complete game, which is big for a bullpen that has seen a lot of usage early on in the season. Even in a defeat, this is the kind of performance the team needs from Finfrock. If he can stay in the game and give UCF a chance to win it benefits the team overall.
That proved true the rest of the weekend.
Saturday, the Knights got another strong pitching effort in 7 1/3 innings from Robby Howell. The junior scattered four hits and maintained the shutout with the bullpen finishing off the final 1 2/3 innings for a 2-0 win to even the series.
“It was tremendous team win. Robby Howellhas given us three-straight quality starts,” head coach Terry Rooneytold UCFKnights.com. “Tonight was probably his best outing against a very good Rice team. He made some pitches when he needed it, threw strikes and was down in the zone. The defense did a terrific job behind him.”
UCF scored twice thanks to three doubles in the fifth inning from Brennan Bozeman, Ryan Crile and Austin Griffin. With the strong pitching from the first day, it was good to see the bats come alive and back the pitcher to earn the win.
The duo of Finfrock and Howell has produced so far this year, giving the Knights a good chance to win Friday and Saturday. That is all the team can ask for as conference season approaches.
If the pitching was good the first two days, the team has to find an answer for Sunday in case the bats do not come alive.
The two teams got all their runs in Sunday as Rice defeated UCF 13-10 in the finale to win the series.
UCF dipped into its bullpen in the second inning despite holding a four-run lead. Starter Andrew Deramo left after giving up two runs in the bottom of the second and turned the game over to Drew Fantich and the bullpen.
The Owls tied the game in the third inning at 6-6, but broke the game open in the seventh inning for six runs. Campbell Scholl came in to start the seventh inning but gave up six earned runs while recording just one out.
The bats just came alive.
UCF was getting hits too with 15 in the game, including a 4-for-6 performance from leadoff hitter Brennan Bozeman. Bozeman, Austin Griffin, Logan Heiser and Kam Gellinger each had two RBIs in the game.
The Knights finally found the offense and the pitching seemed to let them down.
UCF is still seeking to find that balance, particularly with the bullpen and late in the rotation. The offense can clearly come alive very quickly.
The Knights are still coming together as a team it is clear. They have had some tough challenges and come out able to handle them, if not with wins. This team is not blazing out of the gates like it did last year, nor was it expected to.
There will be more opportunities to gain some confidence before American Conference play begins.
