Central Florida has no
mercy on Pirates
From electronic and staff reports
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Central Florida chased East Carolina starter
Jharel Cotton after 1 2/3 innings and generally outplayed the Pirates from
the beginning to the abbreviated end for an easy 11-1 victory Friday
afternoon in the
Conference USA Championship tournament at Trustmark Park in Pearl, MS.
A junior righthander, Cotton (8-2) gave up
four runs on six hits and a walk before giving way to junior lefthander
Tyler Joyner, who fared little better in his three-innings of work.
ECU scored its lone run in the second on
singles by senior catcher Zach Wright, sophomore first baseman Chase
McDonald and junior outfielder Bryan Bass. But UCF got to Joyner for two
runs in the 3rd and three more in the 4th to extend its lead to 9-1 and put
the game essentially out of reach.
The Knights put on a finishing flourish with
two outs in the 8th, bringing freshman righthander Dylan Dickens' two-inning
relief stint to an end by pushing across two runs and establishing a 10-run
lead. Junior leftie Jake
Harris came in from the bullpen and got the final out of the frame on a
strikeout after giving up a walk and a double.
When the Pirates failed to score in their half
of the inning, the game was declared over in accordance with C-USA's 10-run
rule, otherwise known as the "mercy rule."
UCF banged out 14 hits with Chris Taladay
producing the biggest highlights. The junior catcher went 3-for-5 —
including a homer and a triple — and recorded two runs scored and five runs
batted in.
Sophomore designated hitter Drew Reynolds had
three of ECU's eight hits.
Ben Lively (9-2) put in a solid start for the
Knights, surrendering one run on six hits and three walks. The sophomore
righthander was relieved after six innings by junior southpaw Chris Matulis,
who pitched two innings of shutout ball.
The tournament is being conducted under a
two-pod format. The pod one teams are Rice, Southern Miss, Memphis and
Houston. UCF, Tulane, East Carolina and UAB are in pod two.
Although a slate of intra-pod games is still
to be played, Memphis and UAB have already clinched the top spots in the
respective pods and will meet on Sunday (2 p.m., CBS Sports Network) for the
championship and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
In the meantime, pod play wraps up on Saturday
with Tulane facing UCF at 12 p.m., ECU taking on UAB at 4 p.m. and Southern
Miss going against Rice at 8 p.m.
PAGE UPDATED
05/26/12 03:06 AM.
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