The UCF Knights won the rubber match against the No. 25 TCU Horned Frogs in John Euliano Park on Saturday afternoon. UCF’s sophomore starter Matt Sauser went eight innings, while both Andrew Sundean and Andrew Williamson homered. This game marked the first home series win in conference play this season and the first against a ranked team for the Knights since 2021 .
“It’s been a while,” UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “It’s been a month of games where you think you have a shot to win and then you’re not playing well. I’m just glad, win or lose, that it looked like a UCF baseball team with the intent of everything that they’re doing all weekend. Even though we lost Thursday, I thought we defended, we battled, we did play well enough. We were in it, we were focused, the look and the guys’ faces were the right look. That carried into Friday and we rolled right into today.”
The first inning featured 1-2-3 innings by both pitchers, including two strikeouts for Sauser.
UCF shortstop Antonio Jimenez went down trying to make a play on a ground ball. He stayed in the game, receiving a roar of applause from the Knights crowd. The second single of the inning came off the bat of Noah Traeger, and an errant throw allowed him to advance to second.
A groundout led to TCU’s first run, which was immediately followed by the third single of the inning. The single by Sam Myers in his first at-bat of the series scored Traeger, getting TCU up 2-0. Sauser locked down and struck out the next batter looking.
“I didn’t have any fluctuation in confidence,” Sauser said. “It’s fine, let the hitters hit, and they came in and got us two runs. Another 0-0 ballgame.”
When UCF came up to bat, DH Andrew Sundean launched a ball deep into left field for the home run, his third home run of the week. Chase Krewson walked the next at-bat, and back-to-back singles by Dylan King and Braden Calise drove in the walk, knotting the game up at 2-2 through two innings.
The symmetry continued through the third inning, as Sauser and Horned Frogs starter Caedmon Parker had another pair of 1-2-3 innings. The game featured nine innings where the first three batters were retired.
In the top of the fourth inning, Sauser worked himself into trouble. He hit Chase Brunson on the hand with his first pitch of the at-bat. Traeger collected his second single of the game, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a mound visit, Sauser refocused and struck out the next two batters to end the inning, as TCU stranded two runners in scoring position.
UCF’s fourth was more fruitful. Sundean smacked a ball deep to the left field wall, moving to second on a standup double. First baseman Kendrey Maduro hit a single up the middle and moved Sundean to third. A groundout by King was close to being an inning-ending double play, but he legged it out to first and beat the throw, letting Sundean score the run. This gave UCF their first lead of the game, moving it to 3-2.
The fifth inning began a stretch of four-straight innings where Sauser had three up and sent three down. In the top five, he did so with a flyout to left, flyout to right, and a groundout to short.
“Having the defense behind you makes it easy to make the plays and make the pitches that you need to do,” Sauser said.
Parker’s fifth featured three strikeouts, but also saw Jimenez hit a deep double into left. After allowing this double, Parker punched the next two batters out in the frame.
In the sixth, another pair of 1-2-3 innings was recorded by UCF and TCU. Sauser recorded the only strikeout of the frame, with four outs being grounders and one being a flyout.
The last run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh, where Williamson hit a home run into left center, growing the lead to two.
https://twitter.com/UCF_Baseball/status/1913654951466684869
After another great frame in the eighth, Sauser was sent to the mound with 100 pitches in the game. He failed to record his second complete game of the season, ceding a hit to Cole Cramer to end his appearance. Regardless, Sauser went eight innings, the longest mark for a Knight this year. He also recorded a career-high seven strikeouts.
Out of the pen came senior Alex Galvan to try for the save. On his first batter, Galvan tossed a wild pitch that moved Cramer to second. After the flub, he was able to strike out the next batter.
The next at-bat featured a flashy play. On a 1-1 count, Brunson smacked a ball right up the middle, where Galvan caught the comebacker for the second out. He struck out Traeger looking, capturing the save and securing UCF the series win.
“[Galvan] hasn’t felt well all day, but he wanted the ball,” Wallace said. “The punch out, the comebacker was a great play, and then the finish on the strikeout. Then, he goes right to the trash can and starts throwing up. He’s a senior leader out there trying to get a win for us.”
Next up
UCF will have two days of rest over the weekend before facing in-state rival FAU on Tuesday. The Knights are traveling to Boca Raton as they look to capture the single-game series win after falling to them in Orlando earlier this season.
“That’s how we should play and what we are capable of,” Wallace said. “Can you do it day in and day out? That’s what we are worried about against FAU on Tuesday. That’s what we are focused on.”
First pitch against the Owls is set for 6:30 pm on Apr. 22.