ORLANDO — Matt Prevesk homered twice, and UCF baseball belted five home runs on the day en route to defeating Siena, 16-1, on Sunday afternoon at John Euliano Park.
With the win, the Black and Gold (3-0) swept the opening series and outscored the Saints 40-5 over the three games. UCF has now defeated Siena 32 consecutive times and holds a 70-4 all-time series record against the Saints.
“We kind of saw everything show up in this one (Sunday). We stole a couple of bases, the bunt game was there, had some solid two-out hitting, and it was nice to see the long ball get going,” head coach Rich Wallace said.
The series sweep marked UCF’s first three-game sweep since Feb. 23-25, 2024 when it claimed all three games at home from Samford.
After not hitting a homer in the first two games, the Knights exploded with Kendrey Maduro, Lex Boedicker and Dylan King also clearing the outfield fences. Prevesk was 3-for-6 with two home runs, five RBI and two runs scored on the day.
On the mound, redshirt junior Grant Siegel made his first start as a Knight and had a solid showing. The right-hander allowed just two hits while striking out four over 5.0 innings to earn his first victory in a UCF uniform. Dakota Stone, Kris Sosnowski, Alex Galvan and Isaac Williams then followed in relief and combined to surrender just one run on six hits while striking out three over the final 4.0 innings.
The UCF bullpen shined all weekend long, as 10 pitchers combined to allow just one run and six hits over 13.1 innings. Over the three games, the Black and Gold relievers struck out 18 batters while walking just two and limited the Siena hitters to just a .133 average. In all, the UCF pitching staff allowed just four earned runs over 27.0 innings. The staff also struck out 28 batters in total and limited the Saints to just a .177 average.
Thanks to strong pitching and timely hitting, the Knights had clinched the season-opening series with an 11-0 victory on Saturday night. This was the first time that the Black and Gold earned a shutout win since they defeated Jacksonville 6-0 on March 26, 2024.
In total, the Black and Gold combined for 12 hits, with nine batters recording at least one hit and five at least one RBI. Chase Krewson led the way at the plate by going 3-for-5 with four runs batted in and a run scored, while Boedicker went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three runs scored and Antonio Jimenez finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored.
Senior pitcher Wiley Hartley would get the win in his season debut. His performance started off a bit rocky in the first inning, in which he walked three consecutive batters. But he quickly found his grove, striking out the next four batters he faced. In five innings pitched, he faced 20 batters, allowed just three hits and struck out five batters.
Hartley’s performance was followed up by a dominant performance by the arms that came out of the bullpen. First out was Dominic Castellano. In his season debut, he pitched three perfect innings, striking out five batters and retiring all nine batters he faced. He ended his night by striking out the side in order in the eighth.
UCF would bring in transfer Carter Stanford to close things in the top of the ninth and he would make quick work of the Siena (0-2) batters, striking out the side to secure the win for the Knights. Those strikeouts would give the Black and Gold staff a total of 13 punchouts on the night. It also concluded a stretch in which the UCF pitching staff ended the game by retiring 18 straight batters and all three pitchers had an inning where they struck out the side.
The team had scored 12 unanswered runs in the late innings en route to recording a 13-4 victory in the 2025 season opener on Friday night at John Euliano Park.
Dom Stagliano started for the Black and Gold on the evening and got off to a bad start, allowing a home run on his first pitch of the season and gave up a 2-run shot later, but went 3.2 innings.
Down 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Knights (1-0) put up a seven-run sixth inning to take an 8-4 advantage. UCF didn’t look back from there, as the Black and Gold bullpen comprised of Spencer Bauer, Kevin Schoneboom, Angelo Smith and Russell Sandefer combined to toss 5.1 innings of shutout relief down the stretch.
Redshirt junior second baseman Braden Calise led the way by going 3-for-4 with four runs batted in and two runs scored. Prevesk followed with a 3-for-5 performance with three RBI and a run scored, while Andrew Williamson drove home two runs and scored two more in a 2-for-6 performance. DeAmez Ross, Boedicker and Maduro also posted multiple-hit outings on the evening, as UCF finished with 16 total hits on the night. All nine Knights in the batting order also touched home plate in the contest.
The win marked the Black and Gold's fourth straight on Opening Knight and upped UCF's all-time Opening Knight record to 37-16.
Up Next:
The Knights will continue their early season homestand by hosting SEC foe Missouri tonight (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m. at John Euliano Park. The Black and Gold will then welcome Bryant to town for a three-game series, Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The games will be streamed on ESPN+, while live audio will be available by visiting UCFKnights.com or FM 96.9 The Game on the radio and live stats can also be followed at ucf.statbroadcast.com.
