Feb. 27, 2010

Central Florida's Beau Taylor singled to right plating Darnell Sweeney with the winning run as Siena fell 6-5 in 12 innings Saturday evening in Orlando, Fla. in the middle game of a three-game weekend tilt. Kevin Quaranto led the Saints with three hits in a losing effort.

Siena (1-6) received strong pitching from the combination of Kyle Sumple and Jake Werdesheim in the defeat. Sumple bounced back from a dissapointing outing in his first appearance of the season by hurling seven strong innings of seven-hit four-run baseball while striking out seven.

Werdesheim was nearly as impressive, but both runs he allowed cost the Saints dearly. Werdesheim finished with a career-high five strikeouts over 4.1 innings of work.

Siena had battled back from a 4-2 fourth inning deficit with three runs over the fifth and sixth innings to take a 5-4 advantage into the bottom of the ninth. But the Golden Knights (5-1) got to Werdesheim who could not hold on for the save.

UCF's Austin Johnson and Chris Taladay opened the frame with consecutive doubles to even the score. The Golden Knights continued to threaten later in the inning, but Werdesheim recorded a clutch strikeout of Sweeney to end the inning and strand a runner in scoring position.

In the decisive 12th, Sweeney led off with a single to center and after being advanced to second on a sac bunt, came around to score the winning run on Taylor's single.

Gary DerHagopian and Larry Balkwill strung together consecutive run-scoring hits in a two-run fourth for the Saints, while Dan Paolini continued his sizzling start with an RBI triple to drive home a run in the fifth.

Joe Rogers capped off an impressive pitching effort for the Knights, spinning the final two innings of shutout baseball with four strikeouts to the earn the win.

Siena and Central Florida conclude their three-game series tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.