Baseball Scores 11 Late Unanswered Runs to Top Missouri State, 13-2Baseball Scores 11 Late Unanswered Runs to Top Missouri State, 13-2

Baseball Scores 11 Late Unanswered Runs to Top Missouri State, 13-2

by James Warnick
Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – 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 State 13-2 in midweek action on Tuesday evening 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.

The Knights moved to 25-23 on the season with the victory while the Bears dropped to 25-21 with the setback.

“We got off to a slow start,” head coach Rich Wallace said. “Grant Siegel did a nice job of wiggling through some tough situations early and we did a good job of responding offensively in that fifth inning. It was great to see DeAmez hit that backside home run in the seventh. And the offense then did some good things to execute in the late innings and find ways to put up a couple of crooked numbers.”

The Bears, who are currently in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference, loaded the bases in the first and got two more base runners on in the second, but UCF starter Grant Siegel managed to pitch out of each jam to keep it scoreless. The Black and Gold offense then got two runners aboard with no outs in the third, but MoState starter Curry Sutherland pitched out of that one as well, as it remained scoreless in the early stages.

The Bears then managed to break through in the third via a two-out RBI single from Tyler Epstein to take a 1-0 lead.

After a scoreless fourth inning, the Knights manufactured a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to take a 2-1 advantage. With Calise and King in scoring position after back-to-back singles and a groundout, Ross dropped down a safety squeeze bunt for the first run. Espinal then followed with an RBI single up the middle for UCF’s second run.

Missouri State responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth, as Nick Rodriguez doubled and came in to score on a groundout to deadlock the score at 2-2.

After a scoreless sixth in which UCF reliever Kris Sosnowski struck out the side in the bottom of the frame, Ross gave the Knights the lead with a one-out solo home run to left-center field to make it a 3-2 score. The round tripper marked Ross’ second of the season and just got out onto the berm in left.

After Dominic Castellano mowed down the Bears in order in the last of the seventh, the Black and Gold then rallied for five runs in the top of the eighth to put the game away. With Chase Krewson on third and no outs in the frame, Calise started the scoring in the big inning with an RBI single. King then followed by belting a deep two-run home run to right to make it 6-2. After Mateo Gray drew a walk, Ross drove in his third run of the game with an RBI single to center. Espinal followed by capping the big inning with an RBI single.

The Knight offense wasn’t done, as it added five more runs in the ninth. King doubled home his third run of the game with an RBI double to right. Then with the bases loaded and one away, Ross was hit by the pitch with the bases full for his fourth RBI. After a pitching change Espinal doubled home two more runs with a two-run double to center. Andrew Sundean then capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to deep right.

Kevin Schoneboom then came on and retired the Bears in order in the last of the ninth to seal the victory.  

Sosnowski, Castellano and Schoneboom combined to retire the last 12 batters UCF faced in the ballgame.

Sosnowski earned the win in relief to move to 3-3 on the year after striking out three and giving up just one hit and no runs over 2.0 innings. Castellano then followed with 2.0 perfect innings of relief in which he struck out two, and Schoneboom followed with a perfect ninth. MSU’s Kaleb Thomas was tagged with the loss to drop to 1-2.

Espinal led the way by going 4-for-6 with four runs batted in while Calise also had a four-hit night by going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI. Sundean and King had three hits apiece while Ross went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored.

The victory snapped a three-game skid for the Black and Gold.

The Knights will continue the seven-game road trip with a Big 12 series at Texas Tech this weekend. The series will run Friday to Sunday at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. Following the series, UCF will return home for the final four games of the regular season next week.