UCF fell to the No. 5 Miami Hurricanes 5-2 on Wednesday night, losing its second game at Jay Bergman field this season and ending a three-game winning streak from a sweep of LIU-Brooklyn last weekend.
In its losses this season, UCF has been held back by the vulnerability and inconsistency of its pitching staff. Tonight was another night UCF could not turn to ace starters Cre Finfrock or Robby Howell. There were other options that head coach Terry Rooney attempted to tinker with.
Juan Pimentel got the start for the Knights and tossed 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) with seven strikeouts, but four walks. Pimentel has been a workhorse for the Knights so far with 20 innings pitched now in just eight appearances for the team, six being in relief.
After Pimentel exited Rooney made five more pitching changes to complete the next five innings. In the Knights’ last game against LIU-Brooklyn it took seven UCF pitchers to complete the full nine innings.
After a strong weekend in the sweep against LIU, junior first baseman Austin Griffin went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and did not drive in any runs.
Instead the main offensive contributions came from Eli Putnam and Eugene Vasquez. Putnam went 2-for-3 in the contest with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
He has been performing well this season to the tune of a .323/.355/.436 slash line.
Vasquez had been struggling in the early going this campaign with just an .091 batting average and just two hits on the year, but the junior outfielder eclipsed that total on Wednesday going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Knights’ two home losses have come to the No. 1 Florida Gators and the No. 5 Hurricanes. Not bad losses at all. Especially for midweek games when UCF does not throw its top two pitchers.
Still, another large number of pitchers going in the midweek game shows the Knights still have some things to sort out with their staff and bullpen. Especially while UCF settles into some new players in the lineup.
[…] Hurricanes sweep the season series against the Knights, after winning the first game 5-2 on March 16 in Orlando and win their 11th consecutive […]