February 22, 2009

RAMS FALL TO UCF IN THIRD GAME, 12-6
Offense tallies another double-digit hit performance with 13
Box Score

ORLANDO, Fla. – During the off season, UCF took time to move the fences at Jay Berman Field in about 10 feet.

The Virginia Commonwealth University baseball team (1-2) learned how much difference 10 feet can make as the Knights (2-1) blasted three home runs en route to a 12-6 defeat of the Rams in the third game of the four-game series between the two schools.

”I thought we battled, but we saw what happened when we make a couple mistakes against a quality opponent,” Head Coach Paul Keyes said. “We’ll regroup for tomorrow and come out looking to pick up a split of the series.”

UCF got the scoring started early once again when Colin Arnold tripled into the right field corner in the bottom half of the first and came around to score on a Shane Brown RBI single. Chadd Hartman delivered a two-out RBI single three batters later and UCF grabbed a 2-0 advantage after one inning.

VCU would respond right back as senior R.J. Schenk (Yorktown, Va.) was hit by a pitch to start the top of the second. Joe Van Meter (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) and Justin Wright (Yorktown, Va.) connected on back-to-back singles to load the bases. Junior Nate Furry (Salem, Va.) smoked a ball in the hole at third that Jake Huxtable bobbled allowing the run to score and make it a 2-1 game.

Junior Matt Leskiw (Plains, Pa.) followed with a sacrifice fly and classmate Richard Gonzalez (Caguas, Puerto Rico) smacked an RBI single through the right side to give the Black & Gold a 3-2 advantage.

Chris Duffy got the long ball parade started with a three-run shot over the centerfield wall and Hartman followed two batters later with his own two-run blast as the Knights quickly reclaimed the lead at 7-3 after three innings.

The Rams would get one back in the top half of the fourth when Leskiw laced a RBI down the left field line to score Wright, who had reached on a single earlier in the inning.

UCF would make it a 9-4 game when Shane Brown got into the home run act with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth.

Wright’s outstanding day continued in the sixth when he destroyed a 2-1 delivery from Caleb Graham off the scoreboard for his first home run of the season and brought VCU within 9-5.

Junior right-hander Darryl Stringfield (Wakefield, Va.) came out of the bullpen to give the Black & Gold 5.1 quality innings and kept the Rams within striking distance.

"String did a great job for us today,” Keyes said. “All we ask for is for our bullpen guys to keep us in the game and give our offense a chance to score some runs and that’s exactly what he did for most of the afternoon.”

Schenk did not want to be left out of the fun as he blasted his own solo shot over the right field wall in the top of the eighth to bring the Rams within three at 9-6.

UCF would put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a two-RBI double by Brown and an RBI single from Kiko Vazquez to push the advantage to 12-6.

Junior Andrew Dimino (Greenwood, Ind.) and freshman Josh Alford (Midlothian, Va.) picked up back-to-back one-out singles in the ninth, but Cory Weech was able to strand both runners and preserve the 12-6 UCF win.

Wright was the offensive star for the Rams with a career-high four hits and three runs scored. Van Meter had his second straight multi-hit performance with two hits and the newcomer, Alford, also had two hits.

”Justin had four quality at-bats today,” Keyes said. “We dropped him one spot in the order to where he was last year and he really stepped up and had a good day at the plate.”

Junior Will Hirsch (Suffolk, Va.) (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up seven hits and six earned runs in two-plus innings of work. Graham (1-0) picked up the win, allowing four hits and two earned runs in four innings of work.

Brown was the man of the day for the Knights with four hits, four runs scored and five RBI in the victory.

The finale of the four-game set is schedule for Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.