March 18, 2006

Box Score

Junior pitcher Tim Bascom registered a season-high 14 strikeouts to lead host UCF past Siena 16-5 Friday evening at Jay Bergman Field. Chris Klepps had three hits to pace Siena.

Bascom moved to 3-1 on the season as he held the Saints to two runs on five hits. The Dunedin native shut down a Siena offense that produced 18 runs in two games earlier in the week at No. 5 Tennessee.

Freshman shortstop Eric Kallstrom recorded career-highs in hits (three) and RBI (six) to lead UCF's 15-hit attack.

Siena (2-11) looked to have a big inning started in the first as the Saints loaded the bases without any outs. After a strikeout and groundout, Eric Hildenbrand walked to force in the first run of the contest. Bascom struggled with his control in the opening frame, issuing two walks and yielding two infield hits. Bascom regained his control to finish off the frame with his second strikeout to work out of the jam.

UCF (11-10) answered quickly in the bottom of the first on one swing when freshman DH Steve Stropp launched a three-run home run with two outs to give UCF a 3-1 lead. It was the third, three-run homer of the season for Stropp as he increased his team-leading RBI total to 16.

Freshman right fielder Dave DiNatale tripled to leadoff the second inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kallstrom to give UCF a 4-1 advantage.

Siena responded with one run in the fourth on a RBI-double by Hildenbrand to cut the UCF lead in half, 4-2. Scott King had two hits to join Klepps with a multihit game for Siena.

Junior second baseman Matt Horwath singled to start the fourth and later scored on a RBI-single by sophomore center fielder Tyson Auer. Auer scored UCF's fourth two-out run of the night on a wild pitch to give UCF a 6-2 lead.

UCF broke the game open with four runs in the sixth to lead 10-2. UCF used five hits in the frame, including a RBI-single by Kallstrom and a two-run single by senior catcher Ryan Bono.

UCF scored another run in the seventh and five in the eighth while Siena added one run in the eighth and two in the ninth to close out the scoring at 16-5.

The two teams resume their three-game series Saturday evening at Jay Bergman Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.