ORLANDO — Riding back-to-back outstanding pitching performances, the UCF baseball team (22-17, 6-12 in Big 12) bounced back from an opening game loss to best No. 15 TCU (29-12, 12-6) twice to win the 3-Game Big 12 Conference Series at John Euliano Park.
After the Knights were bested, 6-1, on Thursday, the Black and Gold came to life on Friday, with Russell Sandefer and Dominic Castellano combining on an 8-hitter and striking out a season-high 15 batters and Chase Krewson and Dylan King both hit home runs in a 5-1 victory.
Sandefer, a sophomore, went a season-long 5.2 innings and struck out a career-high eight batters in just his second start as a Knight. He surrendered just one run on six hits to improve to 2-2 on the season. Senior southpaw Castellano came on and struck out a season-high seven batters over 3.1 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just two hits in the outing on his way to earning his first save of the season.
In addition to the homers from Krewson and King, Antonio Jimenez paced the hosts at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored. DeAmez Ross, Lex Boedicker and Braden Calise also drove in runs in the game for UCF.
But on Saturday another sophomore, Matt Sauser (3-0), did even better, hurling a team season and career-high eight innings and recording a career high eight strikeouts, while scattering just five hits, and retiring the side in order in six of the eight innings, in a 4-2 victory over the Horned Frogs.
Alex Galvan came on with one on in the ninth and retired all three batters he faced _ strikeout, groundout, strikeout _ to collect his second save of the season. The win locked up UCF’s first ranked series win since Feb. 27, 2021, when the Black and Gold took two of three at No. 1 Ole Miss.
Andrew Sundean led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run, double, two runs scored and an RBI. Andrew Williamson also homered, while Calise went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk and King was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Up Next:
The Knights were in Boca Raton to challenge FAU on Tuesday and will return to John Euliano Park for another weekend series with Big 12 Conference-leading and No. 18 ranked West Virginia at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The games will be streamed on ESPN+ and 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.
