University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
UCF
Baseball's Late Rally Falls Short Against UCF
4/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 11, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss tried to rally late but came up short as UCF took the third and final game of the series 9-8 Sunday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park.
UCF (22-12, 6-2 C-USA) scored all nine of their runs in the fourth through the sixth overcoming an early 3-0 Southern Miss lead and withstanding a late charge by the Golden Eagles.
Down 9-4, Southern Miss scored three times in the eighth and once in the ninth, leaving the bases loaded in the final frame.
In the eighth, Southern Miss (16-14, 1-5 C-USA) sent three consecutive pinch hitters to the plate with Isaac Rodriguez and Travis Creel singling to reach base. Tyler Koelling followed with a RBI double into the left-center field gap, plating two runs and Dillon Day ripped his fourth hit of the game, a RBI double down the left-field line.
The Eagles would not go quietly in the ninth either, as Kameron Brunty drew a walk and both Rodriguez and Creel were hit by a pitch to load the bases. Koelling hit a deep fly ball that allowed Brunty to score from third, but that was as close as Southern Miss would get leaving the tying run at third and the winning run at second when the game ended.
Starting pitcher Jeff Stanley lasted only four innings, allowing two runs on four hits while reliever Josh Jones took the loss, allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Freshman Dillon Day continued his hot streak at the plate by going four-for-five with a RBI and three runs score. He singled in his first three plate appearances, which was the seventh consecutive time that he had reached base dating back to the St. Mary's series.
Taylor Walker continued his hot weekend with a two-for-three afternoon, he finished the weekend going 8-for-12 for a .667 average in the three game series. Kameron Brunty also added in two hits and two RBI in the game as well.
Southern Miss took their first lead of the weekend in the top of the first inning with three runs on four hits for an early 3-0 lead. Dillon Day started the rally with an infield single and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Taylor Walker. Adam Doleac drew a walk before B.A. Vollmuth doubled in a run to the left-center field gap. Kameron Brunty followed with a two-RBI single up the middle to end the day for UCF starter Alex Besaw, trailing 3-0.
Central Florida scored their first runs of the game in the top of the fourth on a RBI double by Jonathan Griffin and a fielder's choice RBI by Austin Johnston to make the score 3-2.
The Golden Eagles answered right back with a run of their own as Day singled for the third time in the game and Walker followed with a RBI double just inside the left field line to score Day.
UCF took their first lead of the game on a Ryan Breen RBI single and Chris Duffy two-RBI single in the top of the fifth of reliever Josh Jones to make the score 5-4. The Knights rally continued as Seth Hester surrendered a two-run home run to Griffin, putting UCF up 7-4.
The Knights struck for the third consecutive inning in the top of the sixth with a RBI single by Ryan Breen and Chris Taladay drew a bases loaded walk off Cody Schlagel to put UCF up 9-4.
Southern Miss begins a five game road trip on Tuesday as they travel to UNO and will return to C-USA play next weekend at Marshall.
-southernmiss.com-
