The Florida A&M Baseball team dropped a season-opening 17-1 decision to the University of Central Florida, Friday evening at Jay Bergman Field.

UCF (1-0) pounded out 17 hits, while FAMU (0-1) managed four hits in the nine-inning affair.

The Rattlers had four players with a hit apiece in Steve Cunningham, Tim Schalch, Darryl Evans and Adam Gordon, while the Knights were paced by Dwayne Bailey, who went a perfect five-for-five from the plate.

Jaager Good (1-0) got the win for Knights, giving up two hits and striking out eight in five and two-thirds of innings of work, while Cirilo Manego (0-1) took the loss for the Rattlers, giving up 11 hits and eight earned runs, striking out two in two and one-third innings of work.

UCF turned four hits, including two doubles, into a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, as both Josh Siebenaler and Dwayne Bailey scored on a Tyson Auer RBI double to left center. Auer would then score on a Colin Arnold to double to left field.

The Knights picked up five more runs in the bottom of the second with Sibenaler scoring on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch, followed by Bailey scoring on an Auer RBI single. Then Auer would score on a Ryan Richardson bases loaded walk.

Both Richardson and Arnold would score the Knights final two runs of the inning, as Richardson scored on a Shane Brown RBI single and Arnold scored on a FAMU outfielder’s error, giving the Knights a 8-0 lead.

A Bailey RBI single increased the Knights’ lead to 9-0, in the bottom of the third, scoring Rob Lara, who tripled to lead off the inning. Bailey later scored on Richardson's bases loaded walk. Auer and Arnold would score UCF’s final two runs of the inning, with Auer scoring on a Brown bases loaded walk and Arnold scoring on a hit-by-pitch, giving the Knights a 12-0 lead.

The Knights scored three runs on one hit and a pair of FAMU errors, to increase their lead to 15-0, in the bottom of the fourth inning.

FAMU finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning on an Adam Gordon RBI single, scoring Darryl Evans, making the score, 15-1.

UCF closed out the scoring with a pair of the runs in the bottom eighth inning, on a Brandon Romans RBI grounder, scoring Nick Choto, followed by Evans Stobbs scoring on a Tim Russell double to right field.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR FAMU: The Rattlers will return to action Saturday against UCF in Game Two of their three-game series at Jay Berman Field in a 1 p.m. start. The series concludes Sunday afternoon.