JACKSONVILLE — UCF took the lead in the top of the ninth, but North Florida responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to defeat the Knights 6-5 on Tuesday night at Harmon Stadium.
With the game knotted up at 4-4 entering the final frame, the Black and Gold loaded bases in the top of the ninth with two away. Antonio Jimenez led off the inning with a single, Lex Boedicker worked a one-out walk and Chase Krewson was hit by a pitch with two outs to put a Knight at every base. Braden Calise then came through by working a bases-loaded walk to give UCF a late 5-4 advantage.
In the last of the ninth, however, UNF’s Seth Alford led off the inning with a solo home run to center field to tie things up. Tyler Gerteisen followed by drawing a walk, stole second, and moved to third on a UCF throwing error. Nick Monile then chopped a ball over the head of Kendrey Maduro on the left side of the infield to bring in pinch-runner Connor Moore for the walk-off win.
UCF drops to 18-14 overall with the setback, while North Florida improves to 19-14 with the victory. The two will meet up again in the second and final meeting of the season on Tuesday, April 29 in Orlando.
With UNF holding to an early 1-0 lead, the Knights struck back with a run in the second and another in the third to take a 2-1 advantage. With Andrew Sundean on third after he doubled and advanced to third on a groundout, he then scored on a two-out RBI single from Calise to tie things up.
After UCF starting pitcher Matt Sauser struck out the side in order in the bottom of the second, the Black and Gold then took the lead in the third. Jimenez led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Andrew Williamson, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a sac fly from Boedicker.
The Ospreys responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth to tie things up at 2-2. With a runner on second and one away, Monile drove in Alford with a single up the middle. Black and Gold reliever Russell Sanderfer countered with back-to-back strikeouts to send it to the sixth.
With Calise on first and one away in the sixth, Maduro hit a double to left that scored Calise all the way from first to help the Knights regain the lead. Edian Espinal later drove in Maduro with a two-out RBI single to left to give UCF a 4-2 advantage at the time.
North Florida once again bounced back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score up at 4-all. With two on and two out, Alford tied things up for the Ospreys with a two-run single.
The UCF bullpen then put up zeros in the seventh and eighth innings to give the team an opportunity in the ninth.
UCF’s Kris Sosnowski was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-1 on the year while UNF reliever Kaden Humphrey earned the win to move to 1-1. Sauser started for the Knights and tied a season-high with four strikeouts over 4.1 innings. Russell Sandefer and Alex Galvan had solid outings in relief, as the two combined for 3.0 innings of scoreless relief.
Despite dropping the contest, a total of six Knights finished with multiple hits in the ballgame. Calise led the way by going 2-for-4 with two runs batted and a run scored. Maduro too had a nice performance by going 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Alford paced UNF by going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored while Monile finished with a 3-for-5 performance with two runs batted in.
Up Next:
The Knights returned to Big 12 play on Friday to open a three-game series at Kansas State. The final two games at Tointon Family Stadium will begin at 5 p.m. today (Saturday) and 2 p.m. on Sunday. UCF will be back at John Euliano Park on Tuesday to host FAMU at 6 p.m. The games will be streamed on ESPN+, while live audio will be available by visiting UCFKnights.com. Today’s (Saturday) and Tuesday’s contests will also be carried by FM 96.9 The Game on the radio. Live stats can also be followed at ucf.statbroadcast.com.
