Victor Tan contributed to this report.

• Final stats

ORLANDO, Fla. – After starting the conference schedule with a commanding 9-1 victory over the ECU Pirates on March 23, the UCF Knights continued their three-game series with the Pirates.

This time, however, the roles were reversed, as the Pirates exploded for a nine-run inning in the eighth to give them a 12-4 victory over UCF Saturday night at John Euliano Park.

Redshirt junior Chris Williams pitched the first 6.0 innings for the Knights (18-7, 1-1 in American Athletic Conference) before reliever Bryce Tucker (0-2) pitched the next 1.1 innings and suffered the loss. Tucker allowed the only earned run of ECU’s 12 scores.

“I’m sure that in the history of baseball, a team hasn’t won a game when they gave up 11 unearned runs,” head coach Greg Lovelady said after the game. “It’s frustrating to see the outcome end up like this. We played hard. We just had too many defensive mistakes which led to so many unearned runs.”

With ECU (17-5, 1-1 in AAC) trailing 3-0 and one out already recorded, catcher Jake Washer reached first after a muffed throw by first baseman Rylan Thomas to start a game-tying inning. Washer advanced to second on a passed ball on the next at-bat before third baseman Connor Litton walked. Second baseman Brady Lloyd, then, doubled down the right-field line to bring home Washer for the first ECU run of the game.

Two batters later, designated hitter Seth Caddell hit a two-out, two-RBI single to center field to tie the game at 3-3.

The top frame of the eighth was an inning to forget for the Knights, as they gave up nine runs on three errors, two coming from Thomas. After UCF took a narrow one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, Washer evened the scoreboard with a lead-off home run to left field.

Tucker’s woes continued, as he allowed his next three batters to single and draw two walks. Two batters later, Lloyd scored on an error in center field for a Pirates 5-4 lead. Caddell and right fielder Chandler Jenkins scored two more runs, as Thomas committed his first of his two errors in the eighth.

Another Thomas error allowed ECU to go up 8-4 before Litton hit a grand slam on reliever Garrett Westberg to make it a 12-4 game.

There were some bright spots for the Knights. Thomas continued his season-long streak of getting on base, extending it to 25 games. Second baseman Matthew Mika went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases, matching the other nation leaders with 16.

As for their lack of scoring, the Knights left 10 runners on base, including loading the bases twice.

“We had some chances with the bases loaded twice. We had chances, but we didn’t play well enough defensively,” Lovelady said. “We had too many errors. [Williams] had a great start with some big pitches, but those errors led to 11 unearned runs. It’s a frustrating way to end the game when we had a chance to win the series.”

Who’s Next?

The Knights and Pirates conclude their weekend series Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at John Euliano Park.

For more on the Knights, as they conclude their first conference series, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.