The UCF Knights defended home turf on Tuesday night, beating the North Florida Ospreys 9-3 in John Euliano Park. With the win, the Knights split the series the Ospreys, who had a walk-off win in Jacksonville earlier this month.
“From pitch one, we did not let up,” UCF catcher Dylan King said. “I think the bats were really good throughout, and we had a lot of really good hits in Jacksonville. We didn’t score guys in and didn’t score runners in scoring position [at UNF]. I think we did a really good job of that tonight.”
Every player in the batting lineup for the Knights reached base in the game, with all but one player collecting a hit. Despite getting outhit in the game, UCF was able to get three more hits with runners in scoring position.
DeAmez Ross carried the momentum from last series against West Virginia into the game, going 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs.
The game was over from the onset, as the Knights took the lead off a two-run double by Andrew Sundean and never looked back. Sundean picked up another RBI in the third off a single to left, scoring Ross for the second time in the contest.
“DeAmez is one of the best leadoff hitters in the country,” King said. “We can also expect that when Sundean is hot, he’s the best hitter in the country in my opinion.”
The highlight of the game came in the top of the third inning off the arm of right fielder Andrew Williamson. UNF’s Nick Monile hit a double and was digging for three, but Williamson was not going to let that happen. Williamson threw the ball on a rope to third baseman Kendrey Maduro, who tagged Monile out.
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UCF’s pitching staff also contained UNF in the game despite allowing more hits. Starter Grant Siegel allowed seven hits, but only two runs in his 4.1 innings of work. Those two runs came after he loaded the bases with only one out in the fifth.
In his first relief appearance this year, Wiley Hartley was trying to get the Knights out of a jam. Hartley gave up the two Siegel runs on a sac-fly and a single, but ended the inning with a strikeout.
“Starting is one thing, relieving is another,” UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “[Hartley] needed that performance because that’s how we’re going to need to use him.”
Hartley was pulled in the sixth once he gave up a double to UNF right fielder Drew Leinenbach and failed to pick him off the next at-bat, moving the runner to third.
Dom Stagliano came in and gave up a single, scoring Leinenbach but not counting as an earned run for Hartley. Stagliano then punched out Mitchell Collins to end the inning. Collins was then thrown out of the game for drawing a line in the clay towards the umpire.
“I thought I did a good job,” Stagliano said. “Obviously, I didn’t come to the game sharp enough to not let up Wiley’s runs. I kinda feel bad about that. I think overall, that went good, but I just need to come out a little better at the start.”
From there, the game went by quickly. The Knights put two more runs on the board from a single by Williamson and a sac-fly by Antonio Jimenez.
The Knights had four two-out runs in the game, an improvement from their performance in high-leverage at-bats last weekend. Edian Espinal and Sundean scored three of them in one inning, and Williamson’s single was the fourth.
“Hitting is hard enough,” King said. “We really need to simplify it more. You don’t want the pressure to be too high.”
Following nine straight games in Florida in April, UCF has a seven-game road trip ahead. If they want to compete in the College World Series, they must put the pieces together ahead of the Big XII Tournament at the end of May.
“I want a really good practice tomorrow and they need to get ready to play another quality team on the road,” Wallace said. “The quality of baseball that we need to play in all three phases needs to step up if you’re going to do this stuff on the road in this league. You got Oklahoma State and that Missouri State team is a really good team. Then you got to go to Texas Tech, which is one of the hardest places to get a win country. So we got to play a really good baseball to give ourselves a chance in and see if we can make a run of this thing.”
Next Up
The Knights will go on the road for the next two weeks, with the Oklahoma State Cowboys being first on their schedule. UCF, who only have one less conference win than OSU, will look to win their second road series in the Big XII this year.
“It’s been tough, and in Big XII play, we haven’t been good at all,” King said. “But I think if you go back to a lot of the series in these games, we’re losing games by one or two plays. If we really put it together and get hot, I guarantee you in the Big XII Tournament, no one’s going to want to play us. I truly do believe that. We have let a lot of teams off the hook, and I think a lot of teams know that. Right now, we just need to focus on putting it all together and finishing games.”
First pitch against the Cowboys is set for 7:00 pm on May 2.