Back-to-back walk-offs fell Knights

The UCF baseball team’s season ended with a pair of last-inning heartbreakers when they battled two nail-biters late then gave them both away.

Back-to-back 4-3 losses eliminated the Knights from the American Athletic Conference Championship, propelling the Knights into 2015’s hereafter thanks to final at-bat nightmares come true.

The East Carolina Pirates entered the first round of the championship May 20 against the Knights as the No. 2 seed. The Knights entered as No. 7 of 8, riding a late-season implosion that left them looking to be in poor shape for the postseason.

But through the first few innings of the first game, the Knights looked to be turning things around. Another brilliant outing by Zach Rodgers in the Knights’ championship opener against East Carolina went deep into the game. But in the final three innings, it devolved into a plodding comeback by the Pirates, with the Knights fruitlessly trying to hold onto a 3-1 lead.

After two straight innings letting the Pirates score a run each to tie things up, the dam broke in the ninth inning when Rodgers beaned ECU’s Eric Tyler to start the inning, then gave up a fielder’s choice, a double, and a single all in a row to let the winning run cross the plate on a two-out walk-off.

Nearly the same thing happened again as the Knights tried to regroup in their next matchup in the double-elimination tournament. This time the Knights had forced the issue even longer, with the game all tied up at three runs apiece into extra innings.

The Knights hadn’t allowed a run since the sixth inning when they entered the bottom of the 11th against UConn. At the start of the lower half of the frame, it looked like a game headed for the 12th after a leadoff out.

Two pitches and then a fly ball retired UConn’s leadoff hitter for the ninth time in 11 innings as pitcher Robby Howell looked to be settling in.

But when Huskies shortstop Aaron Hill connected on Howell’s next pitch and sent a single into center field, that control started to fall apart. Three pitches later another single put the tying run in scoring position. With three potential force-outs, a ground ball could have ended the inning. But on the second pitch to Huskies second baseman Vinny Siena, he blasted a single deep enough to center to send the Knights home for the season, losing back-to-back walk-offs to end their season with six losses in the final eight games.

The Knights would finish off the season 31-27, bolstered largely by a strong early showing in the season. In conference play, they ended 10-14.