After senior shortstop Dylan Mooretied the game at three with a solo homer to lead off the eighth frame, UCF and UConn played into the 11th inning before the Huskies recorded three-consecutive hits to secure a 4-3 walk-off win Thursday at Bright House Field in The American Championship.
UCF (31-27) ended its season after dropping its second-consecutive game in the opponent's last at bat. The Knights had opportunities with runners on base in the ninth and 10th frames, but were unable to capitalize.
The game-winning base hit for UConn (33-24) came from Vinny Siena after back-to-back singles put a runner at second with one out.
Moore paced the Knights by driving in a pair of runs, while sophomore left fielder Eugene Vazquez added an RBI base hit.
After a double by senior right fielder Erik Barber in the first inning, the Knights broke through in the second frame. Senior first baseman James Vasquez drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second when freshman second baseman Kyle Marsh was hit by a pitch. Vazquez's single through the right side put the Knights on the board before a bases loaded hit batter stretched the advantage to 2-0.
The Huskies came right back to cut the lead to 2-1 on a solo homer by Joe Deroche-Duff to left in the bottom of the frame.
Freshman righty Cre Finfrock fanned four and was in a groove till the bottom of the sixth inning when UConn knotted the contest with one run on a pair of hits, 2-2. The Jensen Beach, Fla., native allowed just four hits in the no decision.
In the bottom of the seventh frame, the Huskies drew four-consecutive walks to take a 3-2 lead.
The Knights quickly responded as Moore blasted his 10th round tripper of the season to pull the Knights even, 3-3.
Sophomore Robby Howell came in and worked a scoreless frame in the eighth inning to keep the game knotted, but eventually took the loss to fall to 5-9 after logging 3 1/3 innings of work and fanning three.
The victory was registered by Anthony Kay (8-6), who provided 1 1/3 frames of relief and notched three strikeouts. Siena posted three hits and two RBI, while a trio of base knocks were also delivered by Deroche-Duff.
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