Knights trounced in back-to-back blowouts

The UCF Knights dropped to No. 24 this week following a blowout loss to the University of North Florida.

A six-run sixth inning opened up the floodgates that would lead to nine total runs for North Florida, as the Knights struggled to find the runs to catch up. They would trade runs in the late innings, but by then it was already too late.

Four errors hobbled Knights starter Robby Howell, who gave up five runs, only three of them earned in his start. He struck out four in just a bit over five innings pitched.

Tommy Williams fell a bit behind in his chase to be college baseball's Ted Williams, now batting .358 on the season,

The loss was the third in four games for the Knights, dropping them to 26-16 on the season.

The bigger blow to the Knights' ranking had come in the game before, when they were blasted by Tulane 10-0 in a game ended by the mercy rule in the seventh inning. Six of those runs came in the seventh inning alone as the Green Wave (25-15, 6-6) batted around and lit up UCF's Spencer Davis to the tune of four runs on four hits in one-and-a-third innings of work.

With that more critical loss, which gave the series to Tulane, the Knights, formerly at the top of the American Athletic Conference, dropped to near the bottom with a 5-7 record. And the Green Wave found a rising tide after starting the season underwater.

The Knights head all the way to East Carolina (25-16, 6-6) this weekend, battling a longtime rival that's middle of the ladder in the AAC. Their first game is at 6:30 p.m. Friday, followed by 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, all broadcast on 740 The Game.

Rollins baseball

A wild 11-8 loss dropped Rollins in its final home game of the year, as Nick Breen's hot bat wasn't enough to smoke out Flagler.

Breen would blast three hits and three RBI in the game to try to keep the Tars close while Flagler (31-12) tried to run away with the game. The Tars would serve up seven pitchers in the game, all but the last of them giving up at least a run.

The Tars have six games left on the regular season, all of them on the road. They'll be at Lynn for a 3 p.m. Friday game in Boca Raton, followed by a doubleheader Saturday.