UCF baseball entered the eighth inning both Friday and Saturday holding onto the lead against the UConn Huskies on the road. This was an opportunity for the team to finish.
Yes, the Knights have had some difficulties with their bullpen at times, but these were manageable leads and opportunities for momentum-building victories as the season comes to a close and the Knights find themselves trying to keep up with the pack ahead of the American Conference Tournament. This was an opportunity to make good both on offensive output and quality starting pitching.
Friday, the Knights could not hold on. The Huskies posted two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, tagging the typically reliable Harrison Hukari to win 4-3 and steal the victory.
Rarely do teams get a second chance to make good on those opportunities. Rarely do teams collapse again when given that opportunity and then some. If the Knights have a rock bottom in this sometimes listless season, this might have been it.
The Knights led 6-0 and seemed to have the right response to cruise to a victory. It got shaky, but UCF led again by two runs entering the bottom of the eighth inning. That is when UConn’s bats came alive.
The Huskies hung nine runs in the inning. Trent Thompson was tagged for six runs with the first two outs in the eighth inning and Chris Williams gave up three. Usual Sunday starter Cre Finfrock came out of the bullpen and gave up three runs in the fifth inning.
It signals a bullpen and a pitching staff that still seems to have a lot thrown in the air.
The final result Saturday was a disappointing 15-8 final, handing UConn the series and giving UCF just one more opportunity to salvage a win. How the Knights respond on this Championship Sunday will be telling for the rest of the season.
In both games, the Knights put together strong offensive performances. UCF tallied seven hits Friday and 11 hits Saturday. Plenty to score runs and plenty to take the lead late into the game. That eighth inning was just consistently trouble.
Sam Tolleson homered in Friday’s game and added a two-run double Saturday. He went 1 for 3 with two walks in Saturday’s game. Austin Griffin went 3 for 4 with two RBIs on Saturday and Eli Putnam added a home run Friday and an RBI on Saturday.
The Knights got a strong seven-inning outing from Robby Howell Friday, giving up just two runs and five hits. Juan Pimentel gave up seven hits and three runs in 4.2 innings pitched. With Finfrock coming out of the bullpen Saturday, it is unclear who will start for Sunday’s finale.
These are big questions for UCF. Very big questions. Roles seem to be jumbled up in the bullpen and there does not seem to be much consistency anymore.
Not to mention confidence with a struggling offense. Even when it produced runs, it now seems the team cannot hold on to them. And for the second straight year, Rooney’s team seems to be tightening up when things matter most.
It is easy to overreact to one game. And this was a bad one. About as bad as things have gotten for the Knights all year.
How UCF tries to find its way out now is going to be a very difficult question.
