By Staff
From UCF Sports Information
ORLANDO -- Rich Wallace singled home P.J. Lehmann in the bottom of the 12th inning to give Central Florida a 4-3 victory over East Carolina Friday night at Jay Bergman Field.
The victory was a special one for UCF as head coach Jay Bergman earned his 800th win in 21 seasons as head coach of the Golden Knights. With the win, UCF raised its record to 4-3 on the year while East Carolina dropped to 3-2.
UCF reliever Kyle Bono (1-0) earned his first career victory by pitching 2 1/3 innings with four strikeouts for the win. East Carolina reliever Glenn Tucker (1-1) pitched well in defeat by throwing 4 2/3 innings with five strikeouts.
The two teams staged an excellent pitchers' dual as both starting pitchers threw well for their respective teams. UCF starter Von David Stertzbach was dominant as he held the Pirates to no runs on four hits with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings of work. East Carolina starter Neal Sears tossed 6 2/3 innings as he allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts.
UCF finally ended the scoreless tie in the seventh inning. Junior DH Blaine Schulte blasted his second career home run into the UCF bullpen in right field to give UCF a 2-0 advantage. The home run marked the fourth straight game that a UCF player has hit a homer.
East Carolina answered right back in the top of the eighth with two runs to tie the contest at two. Ryan Jones drove in two runs with a single through the right side to even the contest at two.
In the bottom of the eighth, Wallace continued his torrid stretch at the plate with a RBI single through the left side to score Dee Brown giving UCF a 3-2 lead.
Once again the Pirates would answer quickly with one run in the top of the ninth to deadlock the game at three. Daryl Lawhorn singled to right field to score Mark Minicozzi to tie the game 3-3.
The game remained tied at three as both bullpens held up well in extra innings. The Golden Knights finally ended the game in the 12th with Wallace's second RBI of the night to clinch the win.
Wallace was the star offensively for the victors as he finished 3-for-6 with two RBI and a run scored. Three other Golden Knights tallied multi-hit games including Matt Fox (2-for-5), David Mann (2-for-6) and Ryan Bono (2-for-3).
The two teams continue the three-game series today at 1 p.m. at Jay Bergman Field.