(20)UCF picked up a 9-1 win over (18)East Carolina Friday night at John Euliano Park in the first of a three game AAC weekend set in Orlando.

Joe Sheridan got the win for the Knights while Trey Benton took the loss for East Carolina.

Sheridan lasted eight innings, striking out four and walking one in giving up just one earned run in 101 pitches of work Friday night. Erik Hepple came on late to close the deal for the Knights.

Benton went five innings for the Pirates yielding five runs on six hits in 75 pitches. West Covington, Cam Colmore and Zach Barnes all saw action in relief in the game one loss.

“Sheridan pitched really well for UCF and they played great defense on the night. They were able to execute offensively and we just didn’t play very well tonight," ECU head coach Cliff Godwin said, "You have to give all the credit to them as they played better than us tonight."

With a 1-1 tie after four innings, UCF scored four runs in the fifth and then four more in the sixth to break the game wide open and then coasted the rest of the way for the victory.

After Sheridan yielded three straight base hits, Connor Litton laced an RBI single to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the fourth frame before leaving the bases loaded to end the inning. A sac fly from Mathew Mika tied the contest at 1-1.

A wild pitch allowed Logan Heizer to score for UCF. Then a two RBI single from Ray Alejo and another single from Rylan Thomas gave the Knights a commanding 5-1 lead.

Alejo’s two-RBI single to center along with Robertson’s RBI base hit to right and Rhylan Thomas’ hit to right accounted for the four run sixth to make it 9-1.

With the win, (20)UCF improved to 18-6 and 1-0 in league play while (18)ECU moves to 16-5 on the season and 0-1 in the AAC with the loss.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at 6:30 for game two of the American Athletic Conference series in Orlando.