Ethan Brown logged career highs in strikeouts (12) and IP (7.1) on Friday night.
ORLANDO (March 31, 2023) – Ethan Brown (Winter Garden) and Riley Skeen (Pompano Beach) combined to shutout the UCF Knights (16-10, 0-1 AAC) on Friday night in a 2-0 victory for the University of South Florida Bulls (11-16, 1-0 AAC) in the first conference game and War On I-4 matchup of the season. Brown followed up a career-high 10-strikeout performance last Friday with 11 strikeouts against UCF while logging a career-best 7.1 IP.
Brown (1-2) picked up his first win of the season while he and the Bulls handed UCF’s Ruddy Gomez (4-1) his first loss to date as the two were locked in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through six innings.
South Florida finally broke the scoring seal in the top of the seventh inning, not long after Brown escaped his biggest jam of the night with a strikeout to strand a pair of Knights in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth.
Doubles machine Daniel Cantu (Jacksonville) opened the seventh frame with a two-bagger to left field. Rafael Betancourt (Deltona) moved Cantu to third base with a groundout and Travis Sankovich (Uniontown, Pa.) drove him home for the first run of the ballgame with a sacrifice fly.
The Bulls added an insurance run in the top of the eighth off the bat of Betancourt, who remained red-hot since making his collegiate debut two weeks ago.
Nelson Rivera (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) and former UCF Knight John Montes (Toa Alto, Puerto Rico) recorded back-to-back singles to begin the eighth inning. Eric Snow (Forsyth, Ga.) moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout by Drew Brutcher (Lakeland), UCF intentionally walked Cantu to load the bases for Betancourt who delivered an RBI-single after falling behind 0-2 in the count.
Brown recorded his 12th and final strikeout of the night to begin the bottom of the eighth inning and departed after allowing a one-out single. Skeen took over on the mound and retired the next five batters he faced to nail down his third save of the season and secure the win.
Notable
- Brown has allowed three earned runs and struck out 22 batters with just two walks over his last two outings (13.1 IP) – both quality starts.
- Cantu is hitting .625 (10-for-16) with six doubles, a home run and 12 RBI over his last four games.
- Montes has hit safely in 17 of his last 22 games.
- Betancourt is batting .341 with five RBI over his first 11 collegiate games.
- Brutcher had his nine-game hitting streak and 22-game streak of reaching base safely snapped.
- USF improved to 9-0 when leading after six innings this season.
Up Next
The Bulls and Knights continue their three-game weekend series in Orlando on Saturday, April 1 at 6 p.m.
About USF Baseball
The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 58th season in 2023 under head coach Billy Mohl (sixth season). The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four since 2015, and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. USF was ranked in the Top 25 by five different publications in the final 2021 polls, checking in as high as No. 16. The Bulls have won five conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro and 1 C-USA). USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, most recently with third baseman David Villar in 2018, and 18 have earned Freshman All-America accolades, most recently Drew Brutcher and Carmine Lane in 2021. Four Bulls were selected in the 2022 MLB Draft. Former 2018 first-round selection, Shane McClanahan, became the program’s first-ever MLB All-Star in 2022 and was the starting pitcher for the American League.
– #GoBulls –
