Friday, March 23
Orlando, Fla.
6:30 P.M.
East Carolina University
16-5, 0-1
1
at
9
UCF
18-6, 1-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
ECU
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
7
2
UCF
0
0
0
1
4
4
0
0
X
9
10
0
No. 18 ECU Drops AAC Opener At No. 20 UCF, 9-1
March 23, 2018 | Baseball
ORLANDO, Fla. – Joe Sheridan allowed one run over eight frames, while Ray Alejo drove in four runs and Rylan Thomas plated a pair helping No. 20 UCF to a 9-1 American Athletic Conference season opening win over No. 18 ECU Friday night at John Euliano Park. With the win the Knights improve to 18-6 overall and 1-0 in AAC play, while the Pirates fall to 16-5 on the season and 0-1 in league action.
How It Happened:
ECU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a RBI single by Connor Litton. With one out, Jake Washer reached on an infield hit and took third on Spencer Brickhouse's single down the right field line. Litton followed with a shot to right field plating Washer for the game's first run. UCF answered in the home half of the frame knotting the game at one-all. Alejo led off with a single through the left side and moved to second on Chandler Robertston's sac bunt. Thomas followed with another single through the left side putting runners on the corners for Matthew Mika, who flied out to right field in foul territory easily plating Alejo. The Knights broke the game open with a four-spot in both the fifth and sixth frames taking a 9-1 lead. With the bases loaded and one out, Logan Heiser scored the would-be game-winning run on a passed ball. Alejo then smacked a two-run single back up the middle scoring Jackson Webb and Brandon Hernandez. Two batters later Thomas singled up the middle scoring Alejo for a four-run advantage, 5-1. Alejo's two-RBI single to center along with Robertson's RBI base hit through the right side and Thomas' base knock to right accounted for the four runs in the sixth that capped the scoring at 9-1.
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Godwin's Take:
"Sheridan pitched really well for UCF and they played great defense on the night. They were able to execute offensively and we just didn't play very well tonight. You have to give all the credit to them as they played better than us tonight.
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Pirate Pitchers:
Trey Benton (4-2) took the loss allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts. ECU used four arms out of the pen getting outings from West Covington (0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 Rs, 1 BB), Cam Colmore (0.1 IP, 3 Hs, 1 R), Zach Barnes (1.0 IP, 1 K) and Austin Covers (1.0 IP).
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Knights Staff:
Sheridan (3-1) surrendered just one run (earned) on seven hits with a walk and four punch outs over his eight innings of work. Eric Hepple came in and retired the Pirates in order in the ninth recording one strikeout.
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ECU's Bats:
Brickhouse collected two of the Pirates seven hits on the night going 2-for-4 at the plate. Litton drove in ECU's lone run with a single in the fourth. Four other players registered a base knock in the contest in Nick Barber, Turner Brown, Bryant Packard and Washer.
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Things To Know:
How It Happened:
ECU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a RBI single by Connor Litton. With one out, Jake Washer reached on an infield hit and took third on Spencer Brickhouse's single down the right field line. Litton followed with a shot to right field plating Washer for the game's first run. UCF answered in the home half of the frame knotting the game at one-all. Alejo led off with a single through the left side and moved to second on Chandler Robertston's sac bunt. Thomas followed with another single through the left side putting runners on the corners for Matthew Mika, who flied out to right field in foul territory easily plating Alejo. The Knights broke the game open with a four-spot in both the fifth and sixth frames taking a 9-1 lead. With the bases loaded and one out, Logan Heiser scored the would-be game-winning run on a passed ball. Alejo then smacked a two-run single back up the middle scoring Jackson Webb and Brandon Hernandez. Two batters later Thomas singled up the middle scoring Alejo for a four-run advantage, 5-1. Alejo's two-RBI single to center along with Robertson's RBI base hit through the right side and Thomas' base knock to right accounted for the four runs in the sixth that capped the scoring at 9-1.
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Godwin's Take:
"Sheridan pitched really well for UCF and they played great defense on the night. They were able to execute offensively and we just didn't play very well tonight. You have to give all the credit to them as they played better than us tonight.
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Pirate Pitchers:
Trey Benton (4-2) took the loss allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts. ECU used four arms out of the pen getting outings from West Covington (0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 Rs, 1 BB), Cam Colmore (0.1 IP, 3 Hs, 1 R), Zach Barnes (1.0 IP, 1 K) and Austin Covers (1.0 IP).
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Knights Staff:
Sheridan (3-1) surrendered just one run (earned) on seven hits with a walk and four punch outs over his eight innings of work. Eric Hepple came in and retired the Pirates in order in the ninth recording one strikeout.
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ECU's Bats:
Brickhouse collected two of the Pirates seven hits on the night going 2-for-4 at the plate. Litton drove in ECU's lone run with a single in the fourth. Four other players registered a base knock in the contest in Nick Barber, Turner Brown, Bryant Packard and Washer.
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Things To Know:
- Washer extended his on-base streak to 14 games with an infield single in the fourth …
- Brickhouse tallied his fifth multi-hit game of the season with his eighth inning base knock …
- Brown's on-base streak reached nine games in the fifth frame …
- Benton, who entered the game with just two walks, issued his third free pass of the season to Hernandez in the sixth …
- ECU dropped to 0-1 to open league play for the second-straight year (loss to UConn in 2017) …
- The Pirates have dropped four-straight regular season games to UCF dating back to last year when the Knights swept the Pirates in Greenville – ECU did take both games last year in the AAC Tournament …
Up Next:
ECU and UCF will continue the three-game series Saturday, March 24 with 6:30 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch.
ECU and UCF will continue the three-game series Saturday, March 24 with 6:30 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sheridan, Joe (3-1)
L: Benton, Trey (4-2)
Batting:
RBI: Litton, Connor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Washer, Jake 1
SB: Litton, Connor 1 ; Lloyd, Brady 1
HBP: Lloyd, Brady 1
PO: Packard, Bryant 1
Batting:
RBI: Alejo, Ray 4 ; Robertson, Chandler 1 ; Thomas, Rylan 2 ; Mika, Matthew 1
SH: Heiser, Logan 1 ; Wofford, Brody 1
SF: Mika, Matthew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Alejo, Ray 3 ; Beaver, Dallas 1 ; Heiser, Logan 1 ; Webb, Jackson 2 ; Hernandez, Brandon 2
HBP: Webb, Jackson 1 ; Hernandez, Brandon 2
PO: Webb, Jackson 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
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H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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