ORLANDO, Fla. – Presbyterian College baseball led the seventh-ranked UCF Knights 5-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but the Knights tied the game and used a walkoff walk to escape with the victory, 6-5.
PC moves to 14-8 while UCF improves to 19-4. The two sides meet in the second game of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Blue Hose silenced the nation's top offense and stared the No.7 Knights in the eye, coming within an out of forcing extra innings while outhitting the home side, 13-8. UCF drew three walks and a hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the ninth, tying the game on a sac fly before one of the walks with the bases loaded gave the home team the win.
Ethan Wortkoetter (Greer, S.C.) took the loss to move to 2-2. The sophomore shut out the Knights for 2.1 innings before the ninth, allowing only two hits in his 3.1 innings of work. Beau Dees (Blenheim, S.C.) produced a solid start by limiting UCF to four hits and four runs (three earned) in 5.1 innings.
Five different Blue Hose each posted two hits including Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.), who joined Tyler Weyenberg (Marietta, Ga.) and Glen Casaceli (Jupiter, Fla.) as the three Blue Hose to pick up an RBI. Peter Johnson (Seattle, Wash.) also extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games.
PC touched up UCF's starting pitcher Cre Finfrock for seven hits and four runs in 5.1 innings. Finfrock entered the weekend with a 5-0 record to lead the country and PC struck first with a run in the opening inning. Ryan Hedrick (High Point, N.C.) singled and took third on a Johnson hit and wild pitch before taking home during a Johnson pickle.
The Blue Hose tacked on two runs in the second when AJ Priaulx (Warner Robins, Ga.) doubled to score Brandon Martin (Gray Court, S.C.) and Glen Casaceli sliced a single to right for a 3-0 PC lead.
UCF scored three in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, tallying three hits before Dees shut the door to strand two. Derrick Salberg picked up one of his team-high two RBI for the third run and would later draw the game-winning walk in the ninth.
PC pulled back ahead in the third. Hedrick drew a leadoff walk and reached third on a pair of groundouts. A Midkiff RBI double down the left field line brought Hedrick home for his second run of the game.
PC shut down the Knights until the sixth, when a walk and a pair of singles knotted up the game at 4-4.
The visitors took their final lead in the eighth by manufacturing a run. Martin watched the payoff pitch go outside for ball four and took second on a Guy Casaceli (Jupiter, Fla.) sacrifice bunt. Martin headed to third on a groundout and scored when Weyenberg knocked a 1-0 pitch into right for a 5-4 PC lead.
The Blue Hose stranded two runners in the ninth before UCF mounted its comeback. Zach Rodgers (3-0) earned the win for UCF.
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Presbyterian College 121 000 010 - 5 14 1 (14-8)
UCF................. 030 001 002 - 6 8 0 (19-4)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - DEES, Beau; THOMPSON, Russell(6); WORTKOETTER, Ethan(6) and
McRAE, Cam. UCF - Finfrock, Cre; HUKARI, Harrison(6); RODGERS, Zach(8) and SAVINON, Jordan.
Win-RODGERS, Zach(3-0) Loss-WORTKOETTER, Ethan(3-3) T-3:25 A-1162
