ORLANDO, Fla. — The host UCF Golden Knights blasted five home runs to power their way to a 16-1 victory over Dartmouth in the first of three games against the Big Green this weekend at John Euliano Stadium. The win was the third straight for UCF (13-5) while the Big Green fell to 1-9 on the season.
Three-run homers off the bats of Nick Romano and Lex Boedicker were the key long balls that gave the Golden Knights an 8-1 lead through five innings, and a seven-run sixth, capped by Drew Faurot's grand slam, put the game out of reach.
Dartmouth tallied its lone run in the fourth when sophomore
Elliot Krewson chopped a double over the third baseman's head, took third on a wild pitch and scored on
Ivan Hoyt's infield single.
Ruddy Gomez (3-0) earned the victory for UCF as he fanned 12 batters in six innings of work while yielding the solitary run on five hits without issuing a walk. The bullpen held the Big Green hitless over the final three frames as Dartmouth struck out a season-high 17 times.
Fifth-year senior
Trystan Sarcone (0-3) was stuck with the loss for surrendering eight runs over five innings on eight hits and three walks to go with a pair of punchouts.
Romano led the 15-hit attack by going 2-for-2 with his fourth home run of the year, two walks, three runs and five RBIs, while Andrew Sundeen banged out three hits and cross the plate three times as well.
The second game of the series, originally scheduled to be played at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, has been moved up to noon due to impending inclement weather expected to come through central Florida. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live stats available through StatBroadcast as well as the official site of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com.
Notes: UCF now leads the all-time series, 4-3 … senior
Kolton Freeman extended his hitting streak to seven games with a second-inning single.