The 2015 UCF baseball season was characterized by its fast start and its slow beginnings. As the team prepared for its first game of the season, it had to live down and answer questions about its collapse late in the season.
That was a different team. This year’s team is almost completely different, with few holdovers that experienced the high of their top-15 national ranking nor the lows of the eventual collapse of that season.
The one thing this team would need is some resolve and fight. It would need to pick each other up and fight for each other. Bad things will happen, disappointment will occur. But there cannot be any room for folding.
The Knights proved that in fighting back from losing a lead in an eight-run sixth inning. The Knights posted five runs in the ninth inning, scoring a hit from freshman leadoff hitter Matthew Mika to record a 10-9 win at Jay Bergman Field on Friday.
A season opening relief.
The Knights hit single after single in the ninth, needing offense to get back into the game. Brennan Bozeman hit a two-run double to tie the game at nine before Mika finished his stellar day with the walkoff single.
“For my first night, I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Mika told UCFKnights.com. “We did everything as a team and came back as a team. Our pitchers came in, battled and threw strikes. We just came out on top.”
Mika went three for five with three RBIs.
UCF’s ace Cre Finfrock got the Knights into a good spot, giving up just three runs and striking out nine in five innings. The sophomore certainly solidified his position as the ace before exiting at the beginning of that terror of an inning in the sixth.
But the Knights also showed resolve following the big inning. The Knights got two back in the bottom of the sixth and simply found a way. The bullpen settled down some and the Knights scratched out the hits they needed in the end.
“That was the epitome of a team win. We talked about the strength of this team is their business-like approach, confidence and playing one pitch at a time,” head coach Terry Rooneysaid. “There was no panic in the dugout and the guys were supporting each other.”
The Knights surely have more work to do. Losing a 2-0 lead and giving up eight runs in the sixth inning is not a good sign for any team. The Knights will have to clean that up and a lot more.
Wins though are nice. A sign the team can fight back and make something more of this season.
[…] As UCF came back in that ninth inning, a new identity and new faces emerged. Freshman Matt Mika was just the hero of that first game, delivering a single to drive in the winning run for a 10-9 win at Jay Bergman Field. […]