UCF Baseball Goes Toe to Toe With No. 2 Ranked Ole Miss, Loses Late

UCF falls to Ole Miss 8-7 in game one of a three-game weekend series.

Jason Hamby | Mar 5, 2022

“Obviously a tough loss but the guys competed; it was a rollercoaster of a game,” said UCF Head Coach Greg Lovelady afterwards. “It was a heavy weight battle, I thought we went toe-to-toe with the number two team in the country.”

The Knights started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI double from first baseman Nick Romano. They would tack on another run in the bottom of the second with an RBI double from right fielder Tom Josten.

Knights’ pitcher David Litchfield got off to a great start, pitching four shutout frames while only allowing one hit.

David Litchfield from the stretch

David Litchfield

The Rebels’ offense then came alive in the fifth inning when right fielder TJ McCants hit a three-run homer giving Ole Miss the advantage.

The Knights answered right back in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run homer of their own from Romano. After tacking on another run on an RBI single from catcher Cole Russo, the Knights led 6-3 after five innings.

UCF Baseball — Nick Ramano had a big evening for the Knights with a RBI double and three-run home run / Jason Hamby

The lead would quickly evaporate the next half inning in dramatic fashion, as the Rebels hit back-to-back-to-back homeruns in the sixth, tying the score at six.

Litchfield was pulled after the third bomb and finished with five innings of work, allowing seven hits and six earned runs, his first earned runs given up this season.

Ole Miss would regain the lead in the seventh with a two-run homer from second baseman Peyton Chatagnier, his second round-tripper of the game.

The Knights had a great chance to go ahead in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with two outs. They were able to score one when shortstop Alex Freeland walked to bring in Trent Taylor but Romano would strike out leaving the bases loaded, unable to tie the game and add to his already four RBI’s.

The Knights went down in order in the ninth, sealing the close victory for Ole Miss. Although they put up seven runs, the Knights struck out a season-high twelve times and left eight men on base.

“I’m proud of the kids we competed like crazy, we were in it until the end and we had chances,” Lovelady said. “They just got one more big hit than we did.”

With the loss, UCF moves to 7-2 and Ole Miss remains undefeated at 9-0.

Connor Staine will get the ball on the mound tomorrow for the Knights. Staine has been lights out thus far this season, only giving up one hit so far this season, but hasn’t made it past the fifth inning yet. Staine has pitched 8.2 innings and hasn’t yet allowed an earned run.

First pitch is set for 4 p.m. tomorrow back at John Euliano Park.

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