Box Score (PDF) | CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

CLEARWATER, Florida – UCF, powered by a nine-run eighth inning, defeated Cincinnati, 14-10, in the first game of the 2021 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tuesday, May 25, at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla.
 
The top of the lineup for UCF (29-28), consisting of Gephry Pena, Jordan Rathbone and Josh Crouch, combined for seven hits, seven RBI and six runs scored, including a mammoth 3-run home run to left field by Rathbone which capped the big eighth inning.
 
Paul Komistek hit two home runs (his eighth and ninth on the season) and drove in five for Cincinnati (29-25), but it was not enough as the Bearcats left 13 runners on base. It was the seventh time in American Athletic Conference championship history a batter has hit two home runs in a single game.
 
Zach Bennett (2-2) earned the win after pitching the sixth and seventh with one run allowed. Dean McCarthy (4-4) took the loss after being charged with three runs in the UCF rally in the eighth.
 
UCF moves on to face the winner of East Carolina and Memphis in on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT. Cincinnati (29-25) will play the loser of the Pirates and Tigers on Tuesday, May 26 at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.
 
UCF struck first as Crouch launched his 12th home run of the season in the top of the first before the Bearcats answered a with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame.
 
The Knights retook the lead in the top of the second on a Andrew Brait RBI single and a two-run double by Pena.
 
In the fourth, Wyatt Stapp opened the scoring for Cincinnati, plating Ryan Nicholson on a single. Cole Harting followed with a single that scored Griffin Merritt to tie the game at 4-4. The Bearcats then took the lead on three-consecutive bases-loaded walks.
 
Cincinnati added a run in the seventh on a solo home run to left by Komistek, but UCF responding by sending 14 batters to the plate in a nine-run eighth, highlighted by Rathbone’s 3-run long ball. Rathbone’s home run was his 15^th of the season.
 
The Bearcats cut the lead to three at 13-10 on another home run to center by Komistek, this time a 2-run shot, but the Knights added an insurance run in the ninth as Pablo Ruiz scored on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Freeland.
 
Cincinnati starter Garrett Schoenle struck out seven batters in five innings of work. Hunter Patteson, UCF’s starter, allowed six runs in 3.1 innings with three strikeouts.