UCF baseball suffered its first losses of the young season with a 2-1 defeat to Texas State and a 6-2 loss to Michigan State in Corpus Christi, Texas this weekend. That capped off a 1-2 weekend following Cre Finfrock’s stellar performance Friday.
In Saturday’s game against Texas State, Robby Howell pitched six innings of scoreless baseball before the bullpen gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
It seemed like a matter of time though. Howell had to work his way out of several jams and the UCF offense just was not producing many hits in this game. The Knights totaled only two hits in the game. The Bobcats were able to get around and put pressure on the Knights defense.
That dam just finally broke when Howell left the game as the bullpen continued to have some inconsistency.
There was no such struggles in Sunday’s game as starter Thaddeus Young gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings and fell 6-2 to Michigan State.
The Spartans used a walk and five singles to score those runs, just nickel and diming the Knights’ pitching staff and defense. There were not massive hits on the weekend, the Knights just could not string together hits on their own.
They again had two runs and five hits against the Spartans with Austin Griffin and Logan Heiser bringing in runs.
These were UCF’s first two losses of the year and a somewhat disappointing way to end it. The Knights still have to find a way to manufacture some hitting and runs and hold onto leads with the bullpen.
It is still early in the season and the team has to come together some.
The Knights will have to do so quickly though with a home and home set for Tuesday (at UCF) and Wednesday against the No. 1 Florida Gators.
