The UCF baseball team was not likely looking at a NCAA Tournament appearance this year. There were simply too many changes to the offense. The pitching staff had a lot of question marks, if not a solid starting rotation to get things started. Terry Rooney had a long task ahead of him.
That was made even tougher with the difficulties and collapse of the 2015 season. The Knights had a lot of expectation and success dropped in conference season. It started putting people’s flames to the fire as UCF has failed to make the NCAA Baseball Tournament the past three years and it is almost certainly a fourth year. The Knights need something optimistic to hold onto.
And yet, this weekend, things seemed to go from bad to worse.
The Knights saw two eighth-inning leads fall apart in Storrs, including giving up nine runs in Saturday’s loss after leading 6-0. The Knights’ usually strong pitching gave way.
That strong starting rotation? That has been thrown out of whack.
Cre Finfrock has struggled and is now out of the rotation, one of the top freshman pitchers last year came out of the bullpen Saturday and struggled in a little more than an inning of work.
Robby Howell was lights out before getting moved to the Friday starting position and has struggled since the move. Juan Pimentel’s emergence as a third starter has continued since his move to Saturday. But that is about the only positive.
The offense has been inconsistent, despite the power that came from Austin Griffin and Matthew Mika of late.
What really showed the character of the team though was how it would respond after that collapse on Saturday. How would the Knights respond on what Rooney calls “Championship Sunday?” The Knights have taken to that mantra and done better closing out series.
This championship Sunday, the Knights flopped.
They managed five hits, including two from Kam Gellinger. They gave up three runs in the first three innings and lost 3-0, barely threatening UConn for runs or to take the game in the series. It was a series that ended with whimper.
There just is not much optimism for this program’s future. The pitching has taken a step back as the season has progressed. It is hard to pinpoint what this team’s strength is.
They are not a bottom-feeding team in the conference at 8-13, but they are not threatening anyone either heading into the final weekend of the season. It is puzzling that this program seems to be stagnating. And that might be putting it kindly.
The Knights have one more weekend and the conference tournament to figure things out and salvage some form of confidence heading to the offseason.
This weekend though did not provide much confidence in this team. Everything seems out of whack with the team. And it feels like the season’s end could not come soon enough.
