Cre Finfrock has been the ace for the UCF Knights all year. Every outing for him seemingly will yield a quality start and a shot at a win. That is all you can ask for from your ace every day.
Some days he does not have it. That is when the team has to scramble.
The Knights were not able to scramble against the rival USF Bulls in Friday’s pushed-up outing at Jay Bergman Field.
Finfrock went only 2 1/3 innings, giving up six runs in the third inning as USF picked up a 6-3 win to open the weekend series between the in-state rivals.
The Bulls sent 12 batters to the plate in the third inning, slowly chipping away at the Knights’ first-inning lead before overwhelming it with singles and small hits. Finfrock was soon chased and gave way to Harrison Hukari.
At least Hukari was able to close the door in the way the Knights’ ace was not. Hukari went the rest of the game striking out seven and giving up only three hits. USF had done its damage though.
UCF has struggled offensively throughout the season on these first two days, relying more heavily on the starting pitching to carry the day. And then the bullpen struggles some. The Knights saw the opposite happen.
They just needed to find a way to scratch out runs.
“We have to find different ways to win,” UCF coach Terry Rooney told Amanda Schoep of the Central Florida Future. “We need to have one of those games where we get seven, eight or nine runs so everyone can relax a little bit. We just have to bounce back tomorrow and try to even the series.”
The Knights got two doubles from Kam Gellingher, who went 3 for 4 with an RBI. Eugene Vazquez also had a multi-hit game with a two-RBI 2-for-3 performance. Vazquez hit a two-run home run in the first inning that gave UCF an early 2-0 lead.
UCF gets back to work to kick off the UCF Fastival at noon on Saturday against USF once again.
