UCF uses late inning comeback to knock off No. 15 TCU, prevent sweep

CUSA Fans UCF sports correspondent Ryan Westin provides his recap of the UCF baseball series with #15 TCU.

UCF was able to collect a win over a ranked opponent, while preventing the sweep in the process, as the Knights rallied to beat No.15 TCU, 8-6, in the third game of the weekend series at Jay Bergman Field.

Unfortunately, the Knights lost the first two games of the series by a combined score of 22-2 (12-1 and 10-1) to lose the series, 2-1.

Eric Kallstrom slides into home for the go ahead run Sunday to defeat TCU 8-6.  UCF lost the series 2-1 to #15 TCU.

Mitch Herold and Justin Weiss were able to pitch a combined five and a third scoreless innings in game three to put away TCU and avoid being swept by the Horned Frogs.

UCF was plagued by errors in the first two games of the series going down 7-0 in the first game and 11-0 in game two of the series before dropping both of those games. The Golden Knights had four errors in each of the first two games.

UCF was down 6-1 in the third game of the series after TCU stole a total of three bases, putting runners in scoring position and an error by UCF second baseman Dwayne Bailey allowed a run to put the Horned Frogs up by 5 runs. The Knights would not continue to let TCU dominate them at home, as they rallied to win 8-6 on Sunday.

UCF would not go away as TCU's starting pitcher Chris Johnson walked two consecutive batters and hit Dwayne Bailey in the calf to load the bases after striking out the Knights third baseman Kyle Maulbetsch to start the bottom of the fourth inning.

UCF celebrates their win on Sunday as the Knights lost the series to #15 TCU 2-1.

With runners on, UCF took advantage of the opportunity when Chadd Hartman drove in two runs with a line drive to right field. Hartman then stole second and TCU then walked Chris Duffy. Tim Russell rounded out the scoring with a shot to left field scoring two runs. The inning was ended by poor base running again, when Chris Duffy attempted to take third at the end of the play while a TCU player stood on the bag with the ball in hand for an easy third out.

UCF was able to bat though the order in the eighth inning as TCU was not able to sweep the series with some poor fielding in the bottom of the eighth. UCF started the inning by singling to right before a bunt by catcher Steve Stropp went by TCU third baseman Corey Steglich and then a throwing error by TCU's pitcher put the winning run in scoring position. UCF was able to capitalize on a passed ball as well as the go ahead run that was dropped by TCU third baseman as Eric Kallstrom slid into home to put the Knights up for good.

The Knights return to action next Friday night when they host the Maryland Terrapins. Maryland comes to Jay Bergman Field with a record of 2-1 on the season after playing at the Winthrop Challenge in South Carolina. The Knights are 2-3 after scoring seven unanswered runs on Sunday to beat TCU 8-6 and wrap up a three game series with the Horned Frogs.

Other UCF Basketball Notes:

• UCF was able to take home its first win against a ranked opponent after the Knights were unable to defeat a ranked foe at home last year going 0-4 in 2006.

• The Golden Knights were able to draw a total of 2,727 fans to this weekends three game series.

• A horned frog is actually a lizard and is the state reptile of Texas.