PROVO, Utah — Dylan King hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth and added a two-run triple in the eighth and Angelo Smith came on and closed it out in the ninth to lead UCF baseball to a 7-6 victory over BYU on a cold and snowy Saturday afternoon at Miller Park in Provo.
With the victory, the Knights claimed the opening Big 12 series two games to one and moved to 15-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play. UCF has now won nine of its last 10 contests and all five series so far on the year.
“Dylan King was huge. He had three RBI — all with two outs — with a home run and big triple. He also caught his tail off, as he did a nice job of handling the staff all game long. I couldn’t be prouder of him,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “And that also goes for the team. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The Black and Gold struck first on a third-inning solo home run from Edian Espinal, his fourth of the season, and the country’s leading hitter (.527) tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI single in the fifth.
King’s fifth home run of the campaign gave UCF the lead for good and the visitors tacked on four more, two on King’s triple and an Erick Almonte RBI double and Lex Boedicker single in the ninth.
But BYU (11-7, 1-2 Big 12) refused to give up and plated four runs to get within 7-6 and had runners the tying and winning runs on base with nobody out when Smith got a strike out and a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to seal the victory.
The game featured a two-hour snow delay prior to first pitch. Temperatures were also in the mid-30s on the day as well. All three games in the series were decided by just one run.
In the series opener on Friday, DeAmez Ross and Espinal hit out back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning and Braden Calise drove home what proved to be the winning run later that frame to lead UCF to a wild 9-8 victory in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Trailing 8-5 entering the eighth inning, the Black and Gold took advantage of the windy weather with back-to-back home runs to tie the game. With King on first after getting hit by a pitch, Ross lifted a ball to deep left that cleared the wall for a two-run home run — his first as a Knight — to make it a one-run game. Espinal immediately followed with a solo home run down the leftfield line to tie that game at 8-8.
Following a 30-minute lightning delay, Andrew Williamson doubled and later scored on a clutch go-ahead two-out RBI single up the middle from Calise to give the Black and Gold a 9-8 lead.
Alex Galvan then came on and retired the Cougars in order in the eighth and pitched around a pair of walks and induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to close things out and earn his first save of the season.
BYU returned the favor on Saturday as UCF had rallied for five runs in the ninth to take 7-6 lead, but the Cougars rallied to tie it in the ninth and win it in the 10th as they pulled out a 8-7 victory.
Trailing 6-2 entering the ninth inning, Matt Prevesk came in to score on a wild pitch and Espinal followed with an RBI single. Williamson walked to load the bases before Andrew Sundean tied things up with a two-run single to right. Boedicker immediately followed with a go-ahead RBI single to give the Knights a 7-6 advantage.
“There was almost every type of element to battle this weekend besides any type of heat. Rain, snow, wind, you name it. And all of that on the road against a tough, well-coached team,” Wallace added. “You couldn’t win a series any harder than we just did, and they couldn’t have made it any more difficult. And to close it out with two big double plays, you couldn’t ask for more from the guys.”
Up Next:
The Knights returned to the Sunshine State for a midweek contest at Stetson on Tuesday and will host Houston for its first Big 12 home series on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) at John Euliano Park. 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.
