South Alabama Classic a success

After being dealt their first loss on the season Saturday, the Knights bounced back on the final day of the South Alabama Classic with a 12-4 win over No. 29 Alabama.

"The goal when you play every weekend is to at least win two of three,"  said head coach Terry Rooney in a release. "And for our guys to bounce back and play as well as we did today says a lot about the competitiveness in our ball club."

The Knights (6-1) met their goal, going 2-1 at the South Alabama Classic after defeating the Crimson Tide and South Alabama and falling to Southeastern Louisiana.

Second baseman Travis Shreve led off against Alabama (4-3) on on Feb. 27 with a double and shortstop. Darnell Sweeney followed up with an RBI-double. Catcher Beau Taylor hit an RBI double of his own in his next at-bat to make the score 2-0 UCF in the top of the first.

Six Knights hit nine doubles against Alabama, including three from Sweeney. Sweeney went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

The Knights hit three home runs; Taylor hit a solo shot in the fifth and Chris Taladay hit two two-run shots, one in the eighth and one in the ninth. Taylor finished the day one run off two hits and four RBIs. Taladay went 3-for-5 with five RBIs; his first hit of the game was a double.

Freshman Ben Lively got his first career start and win for the Knights. Lively gave up one run off of three hits in five innings.

Righty Brennan Dobbins walked two and gave up two singles and two runs in the seventh. D.J. Hicks came in to finish the inning but gave up a home run to Alabama's Austen Smith in the eighth. With two outs and two on, Joe Rogers came in to finish the inning and close the game.

Hicks had two of the nine doubles with one in the fourth and one in the ninth.

On Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana, Bryan Brown got the first loss for UCF this season with a 7-2 loss.

Brown pitched one and a third innings of relief against Southeastern Louisiana where he gave up two runs off of two hits. Junior Ray Hanson started the game and gave up one run on seven hits. Hanson struck out five but walked four.

The Knights didn't get on the board until the third when third baseman Derek Luciano doubled and advanced to third on a Shreve sacrifice bunt. Ronnie Richardson hit an RBI-ground out and shortstop Darnell Sweeney hit his second of two hits, a team-high for the game, but Taylor flied out to end the inning and strand Sweeney at first.

"It was a really good weekend," said Sweeney in a release. "I was just keeping everything simple, stayed relaxed and played my game. And I love having a guy like Shreve [at second base]. He keeps the energy up and talks about nonsense half of the time. But it helps you stay in the game."

The Knights scored again in the seventh on a Taladay RBI-single but a Southeastern pitching change led to a double play to end the inning. Taladay, the reigning C-USA Freshman of the Year, made his first start of the season after an injury and his first-career start in left field.

Southeastern's Justin Boudreaux hit a two-run home run in the eighth and one run scored in the ninth to leave the final score at 7-2. The Knights were out-hit by the Lions 16-7.

Junior Danny Winkler made his second Friday-night start in a row, this time against South Alabama. The Knights won 9-4.

Winkler pitched four and a third innings, struck out five and gave up four runs off of four hits.

Nick Cicio relieved Winkler and got the win with three scoreless innings and five strikeouts. The bases were loaded twice in the fourth and the sixth inning but that didn't seem to get to him.

"I kind of worked myself into a jam [in the fourth inning] and I knew I couldn't allow a run to score," Cicio said. "We were in a pivotal point in the game because we just tied it up, and we needed to start taking control of the game."

 Against South Alabama, Ronnie Richardson had his second consecutive three-hit game of the season. Richardson was 3-for-5, hitting his second triple in two games. Richardson also scored two runs and batted in two RBIs.

Taladay played in his first game of the season. In the top of the sixth inning, Taladay pinch-hit for Erik Hempe. With the Knights trailing 4-3, Taladay hit the first pitch he saw into the outfield for a two-out single that knocked in a run and tied the game at four. The Knights pulled away afterward.

Quick hits

—  Taladay, who made his return from a preseason injury, entered the game in the fifth inning on Friday in UCF's 9-4 win over South Alabama and started on both Saturday and Sunday. Taladay was 5-for-11 with seven RBIs for the weekend.

— Catcher Beau Taylor tied the UCF all-time hitting record in Friday's win over South Alabama but went 0-for-4 against Southeastern, snapping his streak at 26 consecutive games, which tied Mike Myers' 2001 streak.

"Tying is like kissing your sister," Taylor said.

Taylor had two runs, three hits and four RBIs over the weekend.

— The Knights host Maine on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Maine, who has lost their first five games, will be looking for its first win of the season.