麻豆原创 busted out for three runs in the third and five more in the fourth to upend South Florida, 10-4, Tuesday in Tampa. The Knights pumped out 15 hits, including three apiece from Jonathan Griffin, Erik Hempe and Ronnie Richardson to bump their record up to 28-17 on the season.<\/p>\n
Griffin completed his work with a pair of doubles and drove in two, while Richardson added two RBI and scored two runs. Going yard for the Knights, D.J. Hicks capped off the five-run fourth with a three-run home run. It was Hicks’ 11th of the season and the 19th in two full seasons in a Black and Gold uniform, and it also allowed him to stretch his hitting streak to 10 games.<\/p>\n
Toeing the rubber vs. the Bulls (22-22), Bryan Brown (2-1) matched a career-high with 5.0 innings, surrendering only two runs on five hits and striking out one to get the victory in his first start of the season.<\/p>\n
“My freshman year I (pitched twice) against those guys and I didn’t feel too good about those games. So I really wanted to start,” said Brown. “Tonight my two-seam was working well, and the offense scoring early definitely made me more comfortable out there on the mound.”<\/p>\n
麻豆原创 threatened immediately in the top of the first against righty Zach Pietrzyk, but stranded two runners with one out. In the home half vs. Brown, a slow roller by USF’s Jonathan Koscso resulted in a leadoff single, and after a sac bunt and single, Koscso scored on a groundout.<\/p>\n
Although two hits did not produce a run in the top of the first, the Knights had two more hits in the second and this time succeeded when Beau Taylor lined a two-out, two-strike single into left-center to plate Travis Shreve from second. However the Bulls answered with another run in their version of the second to retake the lead at 2-1.<\/p>\n
The opportunities continued to develop for the Black and Gold in the third, where Richardson singled off the first-base bag and touched second on a throwing error from Pietrzyk who attempted a pickoff play. Looking to even things back up again, Griffin fell behind 0-2 until going the opposite way for a RBI double to right. Following a single by Kevin Vasquez to place runners at the corners, Hempe fired a single to center and Derek Luciano completed the three-run frame with a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n
The Knights were not done. Lefty Trey Dahl entered from the pen in the fourth and witnessed 麻豆原创 load the bases with no outs, including a grounder back to the mound that Dahl picked up and simply dropped as he tried to throw to second. That would set the stage for a massive inning.<\/p>\n
Entering Tuesday 2-for-4 on the year with the bases juiced, Richardson worked his way into a hitter’s count before lining a 2-0 pitch inside the third-base bag for a two-run double. Now ahead 6-2, Hicks pulled a line drive to right that had enough velocity on it to just clear the fence for a three-run jack. The five-run frame stretched 麻豆原创’s advantage to 9-2.<\/p>\n
Brown preserved that lead through five innings and would take a seat in the sixth for Matt Collins, and the right-handed reliever pitched a scoreless frame, as did Hicks in the seventh.<\/p>\n
Although the Bulls plated two runs in the eighth, Luciano’s two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth halted any chance at a USF comeback, and senior lefty Nick Cicio ventured from the pen in the ninth and breezed through the final frame to seal the win.<\/p>\n
Game Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n 麻豆原创 – 28-17 Overall; South Florida – 22-22 Overall<\/p>\n