Baseball Falls to Oklahoma State in Series Finale, 10-6Baseball Falls to Oklahoma State in Series Finale, 10-6

Baseball Falls to Oklahoma State in Series Finale, 10-6

by James Warnick
Box Score

STILLWATER, Okla. – The UCF baseball team looked to stage a comeback with three runs in the eighth and another in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as Oklahoma State held on to claim the series finale on Sunday afternoon at O’Brate Stadium by a score of 10-6.

The Cowboys swept the weekend series to improve to 22-21 overall and 10-11 in Big 12 play, while the Knights drop to 24-23 and 6-18 in conference play.  

Oklahoma State took advantage of a two-out UCF defensive miscue in the bottom of the second on its way to scoring a trio of unearned runs. After Kollin Ritchie reached on a throwing error, Beau Sylvester walked, and Brock Thompson hit out a three-run home run that just got out down the rightfield line to make it 3-0.

The Cowboys then hit back-to-back home runs in the third to extend their lead to 6-0. Colin Brueggemann hit a deep two-run shot to right center and Jayson Jones followed with a deep solo shot to left center. Brueggemann’s round tripper marked his third of the series.

The Knights loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with one away and managed to get a pair of runs back to make it a 6-2 game. With Andrew Williamson, Andrew Sundean and Matt Prevesk on the base paths, Braden Calise hit a ball to short and picked up an RBI on a fielder’s choice. The second run came in on the play on an OSU throwing error to pull the Black and Gold within four.

The Pokes responded, however, with four more runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 10-2. Brueggemann had the big hit in the frame with a two-run single.

With Dom Stagliano on in relief for the Knights, the senior right-hander sat down the Cowboys down in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. He had a stretch in which he struck out five consecutive batters and he retired all 11 men that he faced. He also tied a season-high with six strikeouts over 3.2 perfect innings of work.

The Knights then led off the eighth with a double from Andrew Williamson and he came in to score on an OSU throwing error to make it 10-3. UCF later loaded the bases in the frame and Dylan King was hit by a pitch with the bases full for another run and Kendrey Maduro followed with a sacrifice fly to center to cut the deficit in half at 10-5.

Alex Galvan came on in relief for the Knights in the last of the eighth and put up another zero on the board to keep it a 10-5 score.

The Knights threatened again in the ninth as Williamson reached on an error with one out, Sundean followed by getting hit by a pitch and Antonio Jimenez walked to load the bases. Following a pitching change, the freshman Mateo Gray then took one for the team to bring in a run to make it 10-6. Still with the bases full and the tying run at the plate, OSU’s Matthew Brown induced a double play ball to end the ballgame.  

Oklahoma State’s Sean Youngerman earned the win to move to 3-1 on the season and Brown picked up his first save of the year. Matt Sauser was tagged withteh loss for the Black and Gold to drop to 3-2.

Williamson led UCF offensively by going 2-for-5 with three runs scored and a double. Gray, Calise, King and Maduro all had RBIs in the for the Knights. Brueggemann paced the Pokes by going 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

The seven-game road trip continues for UCF with a midweek contest at Missouri State on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri. Following Tuesday’s midweek, UCF will head to Lubbock, Texas for a three-game league series at Texas Tech next weekend.