Baseball Falls to Florida State, Drops to Elimination Game

The UCF Knights baseball team now has its back against the wall at the Tallahassee Regional, falling to Florida State on Saturday night, 5-2, to drop to an elimination game at noon the following day.

As 5,246 spectators, many of them Florida State fans, made their presence felt in Dick Howser Stadium throughout the evening, Seminole head coach Link Jarrett took down his former assistant, UCF head coach Rich Wallace, in their first matchup in opposite dugouts since Wallace took the job.

Let’s round the bases to see just how the Knights found themselves in such a predicament:

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1st: Jamie Arnold

It’s hard to string together runs, even if one can get a semblance of momentum, with a really good pitcher on the hill. The Seminoles had a pitcher like that with their ace, All-ACC First Teamer Jamie Arnold.

Arnold, who is now 11-3 on the season, rarely let any Knights batters get on base at all Saturday night, striking out 12 of the 28 batters he faced and only giving up two runs on three hits, two walks, and a pair of hit batters. That is seven baserunners in nine innings for the Knights, compared to the Seminoles’ 13 hits.

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2nd: Bullpen keeps UCF in striking distance

Even with Arnold on defense and ACC Player of the Year James Tibbs lll on offense, Florida State never ran away with it, the Knights staying within three or four runs during the second half of the contest.

From the fifth inning on, bullpen arms Spencer Bauer, Kyle Kramer, Chase Centala and Najer Victor teamed up to blank the Seminoles and combined for eight strikeouts. Kramer accounted for half of the strikeouts in the seven batters he faced.

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3rd: Blown Opportunities

While the bullpen stymied the Florida State offense to give the Knights to chance to come back, UCF’s batters had several chances to close the deficit that ended up unsuccessful.

Any good fortune built by the Knights through a runner on base or a close play breaking their way upon review was counteracted by either the Florida State pitching duo or a fielding mistake.

UCF went 0-6 with runners in scoring position, with perhaps the biggest opportunity coming in the seventh inning. This was Arnold’s final inning, so he was showing signs of fatigue, evidenced by the Knights loading the bases with no outs. The situation ended with UCF only getting a single run on an RBI groundout that resulted in a double play.

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Home: What’s Next?

The Knights’ loss on Saturday means they now will have to win three games in two days if they want to make it to the Super Regional, the first being an elimination game against Stetson.

The Hatters (41-21) are coming off a 4-0 victory over Alabama on Saturday.

Looking back at our regional preview, the players to watch for Stetson were CF Kyle Jones, SS Lorenzo Meola, and pitchers Zane Coppersmith, Cole Stallings and Anthony DeFabbia.

DeFabbia saw action in relief during the game against Alabama, but neither Coppersmith nor Stallings have yet to make an appearance this weekend.

Meanwhile, Jones has gone 3-8 in the lead-off spot. Meola just has one hit to his name so far, but Isaiah Barkett has made up for it by getting at least one RBI in both the Hatters’ games this weekend, including two against the Crimson Tide via an RBI double.

UCF and Stetson have each beat each other on their own home fields, but their deciding matchup of the season, with postseason survival on the line, will be on neutral ground at noon on Sunday.

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Player of the Game

Jack Zyksa

Liam Rooney/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK

In a tough ask for any collegiate baseball lineup, Zyska once again tuned a multi-hit effort, even getting another RBI double with a deep ground ball down the left-field line.

He also legged out an infield single in the ninth inning.

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Play of the Game

Anthony Calabro Makes leaping grab in center