Jimenez, Siegel and Stagliano Lead Baseball to 5-1 Win Over Florida A&MJimenez, Siegel and Stagliano Lead Baseball to 5-1 Win Over Florida A&M

Jimenez, Siegel and Stagliano Lead Baseball to 5-1 Win Over Florida A&M

by Nick Porcelli
Box Score

ORLANDO – Grant Siegel and Dom Stagliano combined to limit the opposition to just one run on three hits while Antonio Jimenez drove in four runs en route to leading UCF baseball to a 5-1 Tuesday night victory over Sunshine State foe Florida A&M.

“Today was a good day,” pitcher Stagliano said. It’s a good win. Hitting was there; pitching was there.”

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 RBIs, one shy of tying his season high.  Jimenez first got the Knights on the board in the bottom of the third, where he hit a two-RBI double. He then extended the Knights lead to 3-0 two innings later when he hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Andrew Williamson to score. His final RBI came in the bottom of the seventh, where he hit 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, which made the score 3-1. 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, as they recorded two hits apiece.

Outside of the solid hitting, the Knights were strong on the mound as well. The starting pitcher Siegel earned win after pitching 6.0 innings, which tied the team’s season high for most innings for a starting pitcher on the year. In his outing Siegel would only allow three hits and one run, while also striking out four batters and walking just one. He also faced the minimum in three of his six innings of work. Siegel earned the win on the mound to move to 3-2 on the year.

 “I thought Grant did a really good job of getting in the zone early, keeping the ball on the ground and letting us play defense and for nine innings.” UCF head coach Rich Wallace said.

Stagliano would be the only other pitcher UCF used. In his first relief appearance of the season, he went the final 3.0 innings, in which he gave up no hits and struck out five batters. Stagliano retired the Rattlers in order in each of his three innings of work to earn his third collegiate save.

“That’s Stags!” Siegel said.

The Knights will return to action on Thursday for the first of a three-game home series against No. 15 TCU. Thursday and Friday’s games are set for 6 p.m., while Saturday’s finale has been moved up to a noon first pitch. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.