The Miami Hurricanes beat the UCF Knights 9-5 on Wednesday at John Euliano Park. The Hurricanes have swept the season series against the Knights after beating them in February.
“It’s one of those weird Wednesday midweek matchups where you’re trying to trying to get better as a team and you’re trying to win the game, and then you’re trying to make sure that we don’t set ourselves up a failure as far as pitching for the weekend,” UCF coach Rich Wallace said.
UCF outfielder Andrew Williamson was a double away from a cycle after starting the game with a home run, triple and infield single. Williamson grounded out his next two at-bats, but led the game in hits.
“I was thinking about [hitting for the cycle], but at the same time, if the team needed me to bunt or just move a guy over, I would have been more than happy to do it,” Williamson said. “It would have been pretty cool.”
Four of Miami’s nine runs were unearned, with both teams scoring five earned runs.
“You just can’t beat a team like that when you make three mental mistakes out there and take away runs that we should have scored, and then gave them runs that they should not have,” Wallace said.
Miami second baseman Jake Ogden led off the top of the first and hit a home run, his second on the season. Ogden’s other home run also came against UCF, scoring the Hurricanes’ first runs in their comeback.
Williamson tied the game with a home run in the bottom of the inning, and the Knights took a 2-1 lead in the third after his triple. Miami would outscore UCF 8-3 over the next six innings, putting up two three-run innings in the fourth and seventh.
Knights second baseman and Central Florida native Austin Jacobs got them within one on a three-run home run. The home run was Jacobs’ first of his collegiate career.
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The Knights used 10 pitchers in the contest, more than the nine used in Miami earlier this season, while the Hurricanes only used seven pitchers.
“I think we should be able to defend. I think our starting pitching for what should be out there has been great,” Wallace said. “I think we’re starting to figure out a couple pieces in that bullpen. It’s just a matter of continuing to get better, and can we put all the pieces together.”
Next up
Both teams face conference opponents for a weekend series. The Knights host the Oklahoma State Cowboys, while the Hurricanes travel to Durham to face the Duke Blue Devils.
“I just know how great a team we have,” Williamson said. “It feels like a lot of games that we’ve lost, so we’ve kind of given away. We’ve shown what we’re capable of. We know what we gotta do. I’m looking forward to getting into the more important part of the season. I feel more confident in how the bats are swinging, going into conference play.”
The first pitch for both games is set for 6 p.m. on March 15.