UCF baseball team struggles with tough schedule

UCF

After falling apart in games against some of the nation’s toughest college baseball teams, the Knights recovered by winning series against LIU Brooklyn and Brown in the past week. But a stinging 15-5 blowout loss to Brown in the final game of that three-game series showed a weak spot for the Knights (12-9).

That massive loss came courtesy of the Bears’ middle of the order that pounded UCF’s middle relievers for nine runs in a three-inning span. Down 15-1, the Knights would mount a four-run comeback in the seventh inning, but by then the game was long decided. The win was Brown’s first all season.

Center fielder Luke Hamblin blasted his first home run of the season on Tuesday night, but half and inning later the Knights watched a lead turn into a rout loss. They fell 7-2 to Florida State (16-5), in the first of a two-game series in Tallahassee that wrapped up Wednesday night at press time.

The Knights come back home for a three-game series against Cornell (6-4). The Big Red will take the first pitch at 6:30 p.m. Friday, then 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Rollins

A wild doubleheader at St. Leo left the Tars in the middle of a four-game losing streak.

St. Leo scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning of the first game to seemingly put the game out of reach for the Tars. By the fifth inning the Lions led 15-1, and the Tars were staring down the impossible. By the end of the top of the fifth, the score was 15-13 thanks to a 12-run inning by the Tars that featured five singles, a double, a home run and a beaning.

The Tars would eventually tie the game 18-18 in the top of the ninth, but the Lions found the only run that mattered when St. Leo’s Cole Stancil hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to bring in Tully Allen for the 19-18 win. Eight Tars collected at least an RBI each in the losing effort, with center fielder Peter Nicoletto bringing in five RBI on two hits.

In the second game, bats went quiet as Rollins needed nine innings before scoring another run. By then they were already down 5-0, letting St. Leo (17-10) cruise to victory.

The Tars (15-11) hit the road for Milledgeville, Ga. for a three-game series against Georgia College and State University (13-12) starting today and going through Saturday.

Winter Park

After inviting a team from Bentonville, Ark. to town, the Wildcats were left smarting with a 6-0 loss that dropped their record to 12-5. The Wildcats collected fewer hits than the Bentonville boys (6-2) scored runs in the game, putting the brakes on a long streak of slugfest victories that had seen Winter Park win eight games in a row.

After spring break the Wildcats will get a shot at revving up their season against Oviedo. They’ll travel there for a 7 p.m. first pitch on March 30.

Edgewater

The Eagles blasted Mainland (3-9-1) to leap ahead in district play last weekend.

The Eagles scored back-to-back blowout wins, by 11-5 and then 10-0, helping bring the Eagles out of their slump and to even out their season at 8-8-1 overall. All but two of the Eagles had at least an RBI in that second game, while starter Josh Wilson pitched a shutout with six strikeouts. Hayden Bhavsar hit home runs in both games.

At 7-3 in district play, Edgewater is in third place in the seven-team Class 7A District 5, a game behind New Smyrna Beach and two and a half behind Deltona.

The Eagles travel to Wekiva (2-15) for a 4:30 p.m. March 29 first pitch.