Trojans Drop Hard-Fought Series Opener to UCF

Friday, March 26

Troy, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

11-10

UCF

10-11

UCF

Troy

Trojans Drop Hard-Fought Series Opener to UCF

3/27/2021 1:15:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – After a three-hour weather delay pushed first pitch back to 9 p.m., missed opportunities hurt Troy in Friday's series-opener against UCF. Despite out hitting the Knights, the Trojans went just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position as they fell to the Knights, 6-3, on a soggy night at Riddle-Pace Field.

Logan Cerny homered in his first at-bat for the third consecutive game, his fifth longball in the last three games. Entering the game, UCF starter Colton Gordon had only surrendered one home run on the year.

DJ Wilkinson looked good in a long relief role, going 4.1 innings with seven strikeouts while allowing just one earned run. Marquez Oates finished on the mound for the Trojans, going 2.2 frames with three strikeouts.

Drew Frederic extended his career-long reached base and hit streaks to 30 and 14 games, respectively, while Rigsby Mosley logged his seventh multi-hit game of the season.

The Knights tacked on three runs in the second and another in the third to take a 5-1 lead. Troy threatened in the bottom of the third, but left a pair of runners stranded.

The Trojans cut into the deficit after Frederic singled and Cerny ripped an RBI-double to right-center, all with two outs in the fifth. The Knights got the run back, however, with a run before the stretch.

Troy missed another opportunity in the bottom half of the seventh after placing two base runners on with no outs, but both were left stranded. The Trojans' best chance to get back into the game came in the bottom of the eighth when Troy left the bases loaded.

In the ninth, Cerny walked and Mosley singled up the middle, advancing Cerny to third, before Caleb Bartolero laid down an infield single to pull the Trojans within three. Kyle Mock, representing the tying run, battled during an 11-pitch at-bat but lined a well-struck ball to the UCF left fielder for the Knights' final out of the game.

Orlando Ortiz (2-3) hung the loss for the Trojans after lasting two innings.

Gordon (3-2) was the pitcher of record for the Knights. The lefty gave the Trojan hitters fits for 6.0 innings, striking out 14, before being relieved by Ben Vespi in the seventh.

Quotable – Head Coach Mark Smartt
"Our execution tonight wasn't good enough to win the game, but our competition level sure was. Our team competed their tails off for nine innings. If we compete like that every day, we'll have success, I can promise you that. Disappointed in the opening night loss, but we're looking forward to the opportunity to even the series tomorrow."

On DJ Wilkinson
"[DJ] was terrific, he did a great job. His stuff was great, his competition level was A+. The one inning he had some trouble, he kept his composure and made some good pitches to get out of a jam. He came into a bad situation, down 5-1 in the third inning with nobody out, and he hung in there and gave us a chance."

Sound Smartt With Your Friends
Logan Cerny is the first Trojan to homer in three consecutive games since Austin Garofalo in 2019.

Notable

Logan Cerny has homered in his first at-bat in three consecutive games. The sophomore has five home runs in the last three games.
Drew Frederic extended his career-long reached base and hit streaks to 30 and 14 games, respectively.
Rigsby Mosley tallied the 46^th double of his career in the loss. The left fielder ranks eighth on Troy's all-time doubles list.
The top three batters in the Trojan lineup accounted for six of Troy's 10 hits.

Up Next
Troy and UCF are back in action in game two of the series Saturday at 3 p.m.