Breen's versatility helps Knights' lineup

Ryan Breen is willing to do whatever the baseball team needs him to do.

After earning Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American honors last season as the everyday designated hitter and backup catcher, he took a reserve role as a corner outfielder behind fellow award-recipient, Chris Taladay.

Things changed when the Knights traveled to USF, as Taladay broke his collarbone in a collision with USF first baseman, Todd Brazeal.

Just like that, Breen became an everyday starter again.

"It's a bummer that Taladay went down; no one wants that to happen. I'm just doing whatever the team needs me to do," Breen said.

Last season, D.J. Hicks suffered a collapsed lung and Breen's bat earned him the designated hitter position. In 42 games, Breen ranked among the top five C-USA freshmen with a .348 batting average.

"It meant a lot," Breen said of earning his Freshman All-American status. "Coming in last year, at the beginning of the year, [I] didn't expect to play that much. I was a freshman; it was an older team. But you know, some injuries happened that got me in the lineup and the way it turned out, I was thankful for [the opportunity]."

Breen opened the 2011 campaign in left field while Taladay was recovering from a different injury, and he moved to right when Taladay returned a week into the season. After a few starts, Breen began sharing the role with Erik Hempe.

Now that he's back in the everyday lineup and back in the field, the sophomore is adjusting.

"He has done a great job becoming that everyday guy, but Ryan's a great player. He's a switch hitter and gives us a great option," Knights head coach Terry Rooney said.

Breen practiced in left field during the fall and has worked all season to get back in the lineup. The sophomore was instrumental in UCF's 9-0, 10-inning thriller against UAB on March 14. He also scored in the six-run eighth inning that led to UCF's 13-10 victory over Marshall on Friday.

"Coming in this year, you have a lot of expectations [to] try to fill the shoes I built for myself my freshman year, but I'm starting to relax a little bit, starting to get back in the swing of things now this year after I struggled earlier," Breen said.

Breen and the Knights now head to Pearl, Miss. for the C-USA Championship.

As the No. 4 seed, UCF will play at 10 a.m. on Wednesday against No. 5 Memphis, at 10 a.m. on Thursday against No. 8 UAB and at 1:30 p.m. on Friday against No. 1 Rice.

UCF, Memphis, UAB and Rice are in Pod 1 of the tournament, while Southern Miss, East Carolina, Houston and Tulane are in Pod 2. The two teams from each pod with the best composite records will advance to Saturday's championship game at 8 p.m.

Projected Pitching

Ray Hanson, Chase Bradford, Danny Winkler and Brian Adkins could all start during the C-USA Championship tournament.

— Hanson leads the starters with a 3.02 ERA

— Bradford has a team-best 6-1 record

— Winkler leads the pitching staff in strikeouts with 79 in 71-2/3 innings pitched

— Adkins has the second-best ERA of the starters and a 6-4 record

Projected Lineup

1. Ronnie Richardson, CF

2. Beau Taylor, C

3. D.J. Hicks, DH

4. Jonathan Griffin, 1B

5. Derek Luciano, 3B

6. Erik Hempe, RF

7. Ryan Breen, LF

8. Travis Shreve, 2B

9. Darnell Sweeney, SS

Notes

— UCF won all three series it played against Memphis, UAB and Rice this season. The Knights swept UAB.

— Rice has a 16-8 C-USA record, tied with Southern Miss for the top mark in the conference. Memphis and UCF are tied at 12-12 and UAB has a 9-15 conference record.