UCF is currently preparing their full recap, but in the meantime here is the box score. If you weren't following along, UCF got in a hole early. Kyle Marsh had trouble with command and errors didn't help his cause. FSU scored in every inning from the first to the fifth: 3, 2, 2, 1, 3. Spencer Davis was responsible for that final 3, but pitched well to the end, keeping them scoreless in the last three innings which allowed UCF to chip away. In the ninth inning, the tying run was at the plate before UCF succumbed 11-8.
JoJo Woods hit a two-run HR. Derrick Salberg was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.
UCF did just post the postgame interview with Rooney. Props to Danny Morales (Skyboat/Valencia) and Tyler Graddy (Knight News) for traveling to Tallahassee. Just like GOL has his favorite remarks/lines, Rooney dropped all his favorites in his opening statement (everything matters, every pitch matters, bottom line, midnight rule, etc.):
"I just told the guys out there that I'm so proud of how they continue to fight and come back. It's a quality and characteristic they've shown all year. It's not surprising. Continue to battle. We've got a tremendous offense and a group of kids collectively that continue to fight and believe. That's what it was tonight. Unfortunately, they played better fundamental baseball than us tonight. Credit Florida State. They played a little bit better. Bottom line, we need to put the ball over the plate more. That's to me the story of the game. That's okay. We're going to continue to keep getting better. They played a little bit better tonight. They're a very good team and when you play very good teams everything matters. But the most important thing from our standpoint is our guys continue to fight, fight, fight. That's what I told them tonight. Midnight rule tonight. Focus knowing that every pitch you play matters, every pitch you throw or play in the field. I'm really proud of the way the guys battled back."
Rooney was asked what improvements the pitching staff needs to make.
"It's not just tonight, but just collectively as a pitching staff we don't throw enough strikes. I'm the pitching coach. It's my responsibility. We need to change some things. If you look at our team that's what we need to do. Again, it's not tonight. Listen, Kyle Marsh is a great pitcher. He's gonna be great for us. Everybody that went out there tonight is gonna be great. We've been averaging 5-6 walks a game and that's going to come back and hurt you. Not just tonight. Even in our win streak we were walking too many batters and tonight it caught up to us."
Spencer Davis did a great job chewing up innings in the back end, saving the bullpen for tomorrow:
"Spence did a great job. He gave up a couple runs early and after that was fantastic. He gave us a chance to win. That's why I brought him in. I felt with our offense we're always in the game. He put some zeroes up there late, then we put a rally together. Once I felt like he had pretty good command I wanted to keep him in the game. Spence can do a lot of things. He's been middle relief, setup guy, close, starter. He did a nice job giving us a chance to win as the game went on."
Who will start tomorrow?
"I'm going to think about it. Obviously still got a lot of guys available. Some guys who play substantial roles for us. We have some guys ready to go. I haven't decided yet."
In a follow-up question, Rooney was asked if a weekend starter could jump in tomorrow, perhaps in relief.
"Pitching you try to map out a week in advance. After every weekend series, Sunday night and Monday morning, I'm mapping out the best I can with what you think you want. I knew on Sunday Marsh was going to start tonight. He threw a bullpen on Sunday. We've got some guys ready to go tomorrow too. This is our last week with two midweek games. This is different. When you go to one midweek game, you structure your pitching staff a little bit difference. We'll see."
This post was edited on 3/10 10:23 PM by Brandon
JoJo Woods hit a two-run HR. Derrick Salberg was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.
UCF did just post the postgame interview with Rooney. Props to Danny Morales (Skyboat/Valencia) and Tyler Graddy (Knight News) for traveling to Tallahassee. Just like GOL has his favorite remarks/lines, Rooney dropped all his favorites in his opening statement (everything matters, every pitch matters, bottom line, midnight rule, etc.):
"I just told the guys out there that I'm so proud of how they continue to fight and come back. It's a quality and characteristic they've shown all year. It's not surprising. Continue to battle. We've got a tremendous offense and a group of kids collectively that continue to fight and believe. That's what it was tonight. Unfortunately, they played better fundamental baseball than us tonight. Credit Florida State. They played a little bit better. Bottom line, we need to put the ball over the plate more. That's to me the story of the game. That's okay. We're going to continue to keep getting better. They played a little bit better tonight. They're a very good team and when you play very good teams everything matters. But the most important thing from our standpoint is our guys continue to fight, fight, fight. That's what I told them tonight. Midnight rule tonight. Focus knowing that every pitch you play matters, every pitch you throw or play in the field. I'm really proud of the way the guys battled back."
Rooney was asked what improvements the pitching staff needs to make.
"It's not just tonight, but just collectively as a pitching staff we don't throw enough strikes. I'm the pitching coach. It's my responsibility. We need to change some things. If you look at our team that's what we need to do. Again, it's not tonight. Listen, Kyle Marsh is a great pitcher. He's gonna be great for us. Everybody that went out there tonight is gonna be great. We've been averaging 5-6 walks a game and that's going to come back and hurt you. Not just tonight. Even in our win streak we were walking too many batters and tonight it caught up to us."
Spencer Davis did a great job chewing up innings in the back end, saving the bullpen for tomorrow:
"Spence did a great job. He gave up a couple runs early and after that was fantastic. He gave us a chance to win. That's why I brought him in. I felt with our offense we're always in the game. He put some zeroes up there late, then we put a rally together. Once I felt like he had pretty good command I wanted to keep him in the game. Spence can do a lot of things. He's been middle relief, setup guy, close, starter. He did a nice job giving us a chance to win as the game went on."
Who will start tomorrow?
"I'm going to think about it. Obviously still got a lot of guys available. Some guys who play substantial roles for us. We have some guys ready to go. I haven't decided yet."
In a follow-up question, Rooney was asked if a weekend starter could jump in tomorrow, perhaps in relief.
"Pitching you try to map out a week in advance. After every weekend series, Sunday night and Monday morning, I'm mapping out the best I can with what you think you want. I knew on Sunday Marsh was going to start tonight. He threw a bullpen on Sunday. We've got some guys ready to go tomorrow too. This is our last week with two midweek games. This is different. When you go to one midweek game, you structure your pitching staff a little bit difference. We'll see."
This post was edited on 3/10 10:23 PM by Brandon
