Sophomore shortstop Darnell Sweeney made up for an error that allowed No. 4 Florida to break a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning on Tuesday by lining a two-out, two-run double to center in the ninth to give UCF a 4-3 win in Gainesville.

“It was such a big win for us because we were able to bounce back (after the Southern Miss series). Every time we lose we find a way to come back in the next game and play really hard,” said Sweeney. “You have to get that big hit and that’s what we did today, we got the big hit and came out with a win.”

The victory was the fourth for UCF (20-9) over a top-five team since 2008. The Knights are now 5-5 against ranked teams this season and No. 32 in the first official RPI report released by the NCAA. Florida ranked No. 1 while six of the nine teams in Conference USA debuted in the top 50.

Sweeney went 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the win. His double to dead-center in the ninth for UCF was followed by the game’s final three outs of the game by centerfielder Ronnie Richardson, who stepped to the mound and retired the second, third and fourth hitters in the Florida (24-6) lineup.

“Coach (Terry) Rooney told me that if we went ahead I would have the ninth,” said Richardson, who struck out two. “When Darnell had that big hit I got the call. So I just went out there and tried to smother them, pound the strike zone and make them hit my pitch.”

Ryan Breen and Erik Hempe hit solo home runs to tie the game at 2-all. Breen went 2-for-4 with two runs while Beau Taylor finished 2-for-3 with a run scored. Each team recorded seven hits on the day.

UCF used six relievers over the final seven innings, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out four over that span.

Making his second-career start after earning a win over No. 20 Stetson last week, UCF righty Chase Bradford had nobody on, two outs and two strikes in the first inning but ended up hitting a batter and issuing two walks to load the bases. Florida took advantage when designated hitter Austin Maddox lined a two-run single to center.

UCF gets back into C-USA play this weekend when it hosts Tulane beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.

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Robert Quiroga (Photo by Rami Rotlewicz)

Earlier in the week defensive back Rayshaun Kizer and wide receiver/linebacker Robert Quiroga were named Arena Football League Players of the Week following Orlando’s 68-53 win over the Utah Blaze at the new Amway Center.

Kizer was awarded defensive player of the week after leading the Predators with 10 tackles, three interceptions, two pass breakups and a forced fumble. Kizer now has four interceptions on the season.

Quiroga was named ironman of the week after catching eight passes for 103 yards and three touchdowns while also finishing with 3.5 tackles and returning two kicks for 15 yards.

Predators quarterback Nick Hill was a nominee for the league’s offensive player of the week award.

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During Tuesday’s 8-2 win over No. 20 Stetson at Jay Bergman Field, Darnell Sweeney and Erik Hempe each drove in two runs while Chase Bradford struck out four in six innings in his first career start for the Knights.

The game was played in front of 1,430 fans and served as merely another obstacle along the road to returning to the postseason for the first time since 2004.

“It’s been a while since UCF baseball has been in the Top 25, but the fact that it’s only No. 23 means we still got a ways to go,” Sweeney said afterwards. “We’re happy where we are but we’re not satisfied.”

UCF (19-6) was playing in its first game as a ranked team since 2008. They’ll get right back at it on Wednesday in DeLand in a rematch with the Hatters (20-6) at 6:30 p.m. The Knights lead the all-time series against Stetson 68-48 and have won the last eight meetings dating back to 2007.

Sweeney doubled in the first and singled in the fourth, finishing 2-for-4 on the night with a run scored. He also stole a base following his first at-bat and was later caught stealing in the sixth inning.

Hempe went 3-for-3 and was walked twice while Travis Shreve (2-for-5), Jonathan Griffin (2-for-4) and Beau Taylor (2-for-4) rounded out the Knights with multiple hits.

UCF tallied 14 hits in all as a team and led 6-1 after four innings.

Nick Cicio and outfielder Ronnie Richardson closed out the final three innings on the rubber in fine fashion. Despite loading the bases at one point late in the game, Cicio struck out three and walked two in 2.1 innings of work. Richardson cleaned up from there by putting away two of the three batters he faced.

The Knights entered the game with an overall earned run average of 2.80, 200 strikeouts and a .978 fielding percentage as a team. They did not disappoint in either category.

“Compared to last year our pitching staff is a complete turnaround,” Sweeney noted. “We get guys that come out and throw up zeros, throw strikes from the beginning and get you ground balls. It’s a great feeling playing behind guys that can keep you in the game like that.”

UCF and Stetson were facing off against each other as ranked opponents for the first time since 2001. The win pushed the Knights’ record against ranked teams to 4-2 on the season.

But there’s still plenty of baseball to be played and not a lot of time to relish in the new-found attention that comes from being ranked in the Top 25.

“We’ve got to get better everyday and make sure that we show the world that we’re capable of being ranked for the rest of the season,” said Sweeney.

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The impressive college basketball career of Rollins College guard Nick Wolf was topped off with the senior being named a First Team All-American by Division II Bulletin and Second Team All-American by Basketball Times.

Wolf was also named to the First Team All-South Region by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He garnered Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year for the second time in his career, was named SSC Tournament Most Outstanding Player and to the First-Team All-SSC squad for the third straight season.

The Cincinnati native averaged 21.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while leading the Tars to their second straight conference regular season and tournament titles.

Rollins was the third seed in the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament but lost to Florida Southern, 76-74, despite game-highs of 29 points and 10 rebounds from Wolf.

Rollins finished the season 25-7, earning 20 or more wins for the third straight season and fifth time in the past six years.

Wolf led Rollins to a record of 91-32 during the course of four years, to tying for the most wins in school history. He is the Tars’ all-time second leading scorer with 2,035 points while also ranking second in rebounds with 1,046. He is the only 2,000 point-1,000 rebound player in Rollins basketball history.

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Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for his efforts between March 21-27. It marks the sixth time this season that Howard has won the award, the 17th player of the week accolade of his career.

Howard led the Magic to a 3-0 record last week to push the team to its fifth consecutive victory. Orlando entered Monday on a five-game winning streak, the team’s third longest winning streak of the season.

Howard averaged 27.3 points (third in the East), an NBA-high 14.3 rebounds per game and shot .717 (27-of-38) from the field, which was also tops in the league. He also ranked first in the East in blocks (3.3 per game) and second in steals per contest (2.3). Howard tallied double-doubles in each of the Magic’s three contests, extending his franchise record double-double streak to 30 games (which started Jan. 21) and led the team in scoring and rebounding in all three games.

On March 21 at Cleveland, Howard recorded 28 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, four assists and four steals. According to ESPN, he became the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon over 21 years ago to record those numbers in a single game (Olajuwon tallied 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks, 10 assists and five steals on March 3, 1990 in a victory over Golden State).

Howard’s sixth player of the week award is the most in the league for one player this season in the, ahead of LeBron James (5), Russell Westbrook (4) and Dwyane Wade (4).

A recap of the week for Howard:

– Mar. 21 @ Cleveland: Posted 28 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, four assists and four steals in a 97-86 win.

– Mar. 23 @ New York: Poured in 33 points to go along with 11 rebounds, three blocks and two assists in a 111-99 win.

– Mar. 25 vs. New Jersey: Tallied 21 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in a 95-85 victory.

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Brian Adkins tossed three scoreless innings of relief and Joe Rogers pitched a perfect ninth to deliver a 5-4 victory on the road against No. 23 Rice on Sunday. Combined with a 7-2 triumph on Friday, the Knights (18-6, 2-1) posted their first series win over the Owls (16-11, 1-2). Next up for UCF is a home-and-home against No. 28 Stetson beginning Tuesday in Orlando.

“That was a tremendous team effort for the entire weekend,” said head coach Terry Rooney. “We call every Sunday ‘Championship Sunday.’ Regardless of the first two days, Sunday is always the most important game of the series. For today’s game, all you have to do is look at the back-and-forth of the score, and then to see us hold on late on the road certainly speaks volumes about the confidence and presence of our team.”

It was the first time UCF won its C-USA opening series since 2006 when it took two of three against Marshall. Dating back to last year, the Knights have now claimed the series in each of their last two C-USA road trips (also defeated Tulane in New Orleans to end the 2010 campaign).

Adkins entered in the fourth inning in a bases-loaded jam with Rice leading 3-2 and proceeded to shut down the Owls. The lefty, who had only started midweek games until Sunday, moved his record to 4-1 after allowing just three hits.

“Basically I was just trying to fill up the zone, and once again the defense played great behind me,” said Adkins. “My mindset was a little bit different coming out of the pen. But in each individual inning I was trying to close out the game. Each inning was its own entity for me, so I was just trying to go hitter by hitter.”

Adkins gave way to Rogers in the seventh, who picked up his fifth save of the year, highlighted by retiring hitters two, three and four in the ninth.

“I was mentally prepared in the bullpen when I saw how well Brian pitched,” said Rogers. “It was cool how (facing potential No. 1 MLB pick Anthony Rendon in the ninth) was drawn up. I wanted to go after Rendon because he is potentially a high-draft pick, so I threw him a two-seamer and I guess it just tailed on him and he hit it to Darnell Sweeney at short. He made a great play to end it. And Beau Taylor did an excellent job behind the plate for me.”

Jonathan Griffin banged out three hits. Ronnie Richardson reached base four times with two hits and a pair of walks, and D.J. Hicks and Erik Hempe also rapped out two hits.

The Knights led 2-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, where Rice posted three runs against Ray Hanson. Three more runs over the course of the fifth and sixth innings put UCF up 5-3 before the Owls posted a run in the eighth.

Rice won the second game of the series 6-2 on Saturday.

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UCF junior Jackie Coward was named the 2011 Conference USA Indoor Female Track Athlete of the Year by league coaches this week, becoming the first Knight in program history to earn the award.

Coward

For the second time in her career, Coward was a USTFCCA All-American in the 60-meter hurdles after finishing third at the NCAA Championship Meet at Texas A&M in mid-March. She tied her own school record in the event with an 8.06 in the finals to earn the third-place finish. She also clocked in at that same time in February.

Coward was also an All-American in the indoor 60-meter hurdles in 2009, and in the outdoor season last year in the 100-meter hurdles in which she placed fifth.

Helping UCF to its first-ever C-USA Indoor Championship, Coward won the 60-meter hurdles and set a meet record with an 8.15 in the preliminaries before running an 8.16 in the finals. She was also part of the Knights’ 4×400 relay team that captured first at the conference championship meet in Houston with a time of 3:43.19.

Currently in the outdoor season, the Knights will return to the track this weekend as they host the UCF Invitational. The meet will be held at the UCF Track and Field Complex beginning on Friday at 2 p.m. and will run through Saturday.

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In a rematch of last year’s finale, the Wildcats won 52-44 over Dr. Phillips behind a game-high 25 points from Rivers. The Duke signee shot just 8-of-25 from the field but pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Neither team shot particularly well as Winter Park (28-5) went just 4-of-20 from beyond the arc and Dr. Phillips (27-6) finished 3-of-19 from long range. The Panthers also struggled from the free throw line, going 5-of-15 on the night.

Winter Park led by six points for much of the second half before the Panthers tied the game at 34-all with five minutes to play. Dr. Phillips closed the gap when they got a layup and free throw from Shane Larkin, followed by a 3-pointer by Isaac Lane.

The Wildcats took over from there, though, as Rivers ignited an 11-0 run with a 3-pointer of his own. Three buckets from BillyDee Williams and a tip-in by Brett Comer followed to put the Wildcats on top for good at 45-34 with two-and-a-half minutes to go.

“To repeat and get another state championship with my team, that means everything to me and our community,” Rivers said afterwards. “We’re so blessed to be here.”

Rivers entered the game averaging 28.8 points and six rebounds per game. Austin Keel scored 11 points for Winter Park. Williams added seven points.

Larkin ended his career with 10 points (4-of-13 shooting), 10 rebounds and seven assists. He entered the game averaging 19 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists and has committed to DePaul University.

Dr. Phillips got a team-high 12 points and five rebounds from Darius Andrews.

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Entering the final day of the 2011 Conference USA Championships, the UCF indoor track & field team sat ninth in the standings with 13 points. Like last spring’s outdoor championships that saw the Knights come from behind to earn the program’s first-ever C-USA outdoor title, the team jumped the rest of the competition Saturday to match that feat.

Scoring 110.5 points on the final day of competition at Houston’s Yeoman Fieldhouse, UCF finished the weekend with a program-record 123.5 points to claim the championship. That final-day point total came due in large part to several individual championships and all-conference performances.

The Knights’ previous best finish at the meet was third in 2009.

“I am very proud of the entire team,” 2011 Conference USA Coach of the Year Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “We won with a total-team effort and as a coach that is all you can ask for. Everyone understood what they needed to do individually so that we could achieve our collective goal, which was winning this championship.”

Freshman Aurieyall Scott electrified the 60 meters as she won the conference title in 7.24. That time tied for a freshman and school record, and was an NCAA automatic qualifying time for Nationals in two weeks. It also ties her for the fourth-fastest time in the country this year.

“To have all the personal awards accompany the team achievement makes the day very special. To have Aurieyall win and pick up that honor is great, but having it come alongside the championship makes it that much more special,” Smith Gilbert added.

Junior Jackie Coward claimed her second-straight C-USA title in the 60-meter hurdles with an 8.16 in Saturday’s final, one day after setting a new meet record of 8.15 in the preliminaries. UCF earned 29 points alone in the event as it claimed the top four spots with Karessa Farley (8.32), Mica Wimberly (8.43) and Ashley Bolling (8.62) following Coward across the line. Farley and Wimberly’s times in the finals were NCAA provisional qualifiers.

Freshman Dominique Booker, whose record in the 60 meters Scott tied, won the 200 meter final by the slimmest of margins. Booker’s 23.395 edged out Houston’s Christie Jones by three-thousands of a second for the league title and the 10 points. Scott earned third-team All-C-USA honors with her third-place finish of 23.33. Senior Sheila Paul finished fourth in a personal-best time of 23.55 to earn five points.

The 4×400-meter relay team, which has dominated all season, continued the trend on Saturday afternoon. The Knights finished ahead of second-place ECU by more than a second-and-a-half with a time of 3:40.39. Coward, senior Champelle Brown and freshmen Afia Charles and Sandy Jean made up the championship quartet.

Scott’s first-place finish in the 60 meters earned 10 points for UCF, but three other members of the team also picked up points in the finals. Senior Lynne Layne earned third-team all-conference honors with a 7.39 finish, good for six points. Paul (7.40) earned five points in fourth place, while Booker’s fifth-place finish (7.41) gave the Knights four of the top five spots and four more points.

Setting the bar high with a first-place finish in the preliminaries of the 400 meters on Friday was Brown. She did not disappoint on Saturday, setting a school record in the finals and earning eight points in the process. Brown finished second overall in 54.26, eclipsing her own program record of 54.31 set two weeks ago at Arkansas’ Tyson Invitational. Charles also ran well, crossing seventh in 56.18.

Senior Carley Dart carried her strong showing from Friday night in the 800 preliminaries over to Saturday’s final. Dart broke her personal-best time set the night before with a 2:12.56 finish to claim third place and six points.

UCF’s final point total benefitted from eight-and-a-half points from two pole vaulters. Erica Weiss’ fourth-place mark of 11-5.75/3.50m earned five points. Freshman London Enos tied for seventh and picked up three-and-a-half points with a personal-best vault of 10-11.75/3.35m.

Tomika Story picked up three points with a sixth-place showing in the triple jump. Story jumped 39-8.75/12.11m to earn the three points towards the Knights’ total.

The UCF throwers also made their debut in the league championship meet Saturday afternoon. Freshmen Destinee Romain and Satrina Oliveira both competed in the shot put. Romain finished 11th with a throw of 42-2.0/12.85m, while Oliveira’s personal-best throw of 40-7.75/12.39m was good for 14th place.

“We really had contributions from everyone this weekend. Scoring points in the pole vault from London and Erica and to see Carley PR and score for us in the 800 really shows what this team is all about,” Smith Gilbert said of her team’s strong showings. “Champelle, Jackie, Karessa and so many others today stepped up and solidified this team effort that ultimately led to winning the title.”

The complete women’s team standings with point totals are as follows: UCF (123.5), Tulsa (76), UTEP (72), SMU (69), East Carolina (65), Southern Miss (57), Houston (51), Rice (33), Memphis (31), Tulane (31), UAB (28) and Marshall (26.5).

The Knights will now look ahead to the Last Chance Meet this Saturday at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. UCF will then send several members of the team to Nationals in two weeks, hosted by Texas A&M.

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