ORLANDO — Grant Siegel and Dom Stagliano combined to limit Sunshine State foe Florida A&M to just one run on three hits while Antonio Jimenez drove in four runs en route to leading UCF baseball to its 20th victory of the season with a 5-1 Tuesday night win at John Euliano Park.
Leading the way for the Black and Gold (20-16) on offense was Jimenez who went 2-for-2 at the plate and had four RBI, one shy of tying his season high. Jimenez first got the Knights on the board in the bottom of the third with a two-RBI double. He then extended the Knights lead to 3-0 two innings later when he hit a sacrifice fly that plated Andrew Williamson. His final RBI came in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single.
The lone run not driven in by Jimenez came in the bottom of the sixth. In the top of the inning, Florida A&M’s (19-18) Broedy Poppell hit out a solo home run, but the Knights would respond when Andrew Sundean hit the ball over the left field wall for his third home run of the year and his second in as many games.
Overall, the Black and Gold would put together a 10-hit game. Seven out of UCF’s 10 batters would record a hit and three players in Jimenez, Williamson and Chase Krewson, had multiple hits, recording two hits apiece.
The Knights were strong on the mound as well. Starting pitcher Siegel (3-2) earned the win, pitching six innings, which tied the team’s season high for most from a starting pitcher on the year. The right-hander would only allow three hits and one run, while striking out four batters and walking just one.
“I thought Grant (Siegel) did a really good job of getting in the zone early, keeping the ball on the ground and letting us play defense.” UCF head coach Rich Wallace said.
Stagliano, in his first relief appearance of the season, went the final three innings, allowing no hits and striking out five batters. Stagliano would face the minimum in his three innings of work, with the help of an inning-ending double play ball in the eighth, and struck out the side in the ninth to earn his third collegiate save.
Up Next:
The Knights returned to Big 12 Conference action on Thursday for the first of a three-game home series against No. 15 TCU. Today’s (Saturday) finale has been moved up to a noon first pitch. UCF will travel to Boca Raton to face FAU on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The games will be streamed on ESPN+ and the TCU contest will also be carried by FM 96.9 The Game on the radio. Live audio will be available by visiting UCFKnights.com and live stats can be followed at ucf.statbroadcast.com.
FAMU also remained in the area and will take on Bethune-Cookman (21-16) in the final of a 3-game set today (Saturday) at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m.
