ORLANDO — Following spending a tough 11 days on the road, the UCF baseball team returned to the friendly confines of John Euliano Park on Tuesday to play its final midweek non-conference game when Presbyterian College paid a visit to Orlando before Baylor comes calling for the final Big 12 Conference series of the regular season tomorrow (Thursday)-thru-Saturday.
After getting swept by powerful Oklahoma State in Stillwater, the Knights traveled down to Springfield, Missouri, last Tuesday (May 6) where DeAmez Ross gave UCF the lead with a home run in the seventh and the Knights scored five insurance runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth to top Missouri Valley Conference leading Missouri State (25-21), 13-2, in midweek action at Hammons Field.
Ross, Edian Espinal and Dylan King combined to drive in 11 of the Black and Gold’s 13 runs on the night. Five Knights recorded multiple hits and Espinal and Braden Calise led the way with four hits apiece. In all, UCF tallied 17 hits in the ballgame.
Espinal led the way by going 4-for-6 with four runs batted in while Calise also had a four-hit night, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI. Andrew Sundean and King had three hits apiece while Ross went 2-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored.
The Knights closed out the long road trip with a Big 12 series at Texas Tech this past weekend.
The final homestand with Baylor is set for Thursday (6 p.m.), Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.), which will also be Senior Knight. The games will be streamed on ESPN+ and will 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.
The Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship will begin on Wednesday, May 21, at Globe Life Field, the home of the Texas Rangers, in Arlington, Texas.
