ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – After closing out the month of April with a conference series win over a ranked team, the UCF baseball team will play its final home midweek contest of the year on Tuesday night, when Florida Atlantic comes to John Euliano Park for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
The Knights (29-15) bookended their weekend homstand against No. 30 Wichita State with wins to clinch their third American Athletic Conference series of the year. Ray Alejo was named to The American Weekly Honor Roll for his 5-for-11 performance on the weekend. The redshirt sophomore drove in three runs, collected a pair of doubles and one triple, went 2-for-2 when stealing and posted an .818 slugging percentage.
Rylan Thomas launched a pair of home runs and drove in six RBI against the Shockers. The sophomore joined the 100-RBI Club at UCF, needing just 102 games to accomplish the feat. Thomas continues to lead the league in hits (37), home runs (12), runs (34), RBI (51) and total bases (111). The first baseman can be the first player to lead the Knights in batting average, RBI and home runs since Chris Duffy in 2010.
Luis Ferrer will get his first career start wearing the Black and Gold. The southpaw has a team-low 0.82 ERA among pitchers with at least 10 innings of work. Ferrer and the pitching staff are up to 442 strikeouts this season, which ranks seventh in the country in punchouts per nine inning with 10.1. Opponents have struggled to hit against the Knights with just 7.14 base knocks allowed per nine inning, the fourth best total in the nation.
FAU (30-12-1) had won 12 of its last 15 games heading into last weekend's series against UAB, but the Owls could not clinch the series after beating the Blazers on Friday. FAU has one of the nation's best strikeout-to-walk ratios at 2.89. Zach Schneider ranks fourth in the country in saves with 13. Offensively, David Miranda leads a quartet of Owls hitting over .300 this season, and Eric Rivera has driven in a team-high 35 runs.
PROMOTIONS
• Tuesday night will be the final $1 Hot Dog and Soda Night of the season.
(Limit two per transaction)
GAME INFO
GAME 45 | UCF vs. FAU
Tuesday, May 1 | 6:30 p.m.
Watch: UCFKnights.tv
Luis Ferrer (LHP, 0-0, 0.82 ERA) vs. Mike Ruff (RHP, 1-2, 2.62 ERA)
NOTES TO KNOW
• Despite falling in the home-and-home series in 2017, the Knights lead the Owls 42-34 in the all-time series.
• UCF is 7-4 in midweek contests this season and 18-11 during the Greg Lovelady era.
• UCF will play the return leg on Tuesday, May 8, at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach.
• The pitching staff ranks 10th in the nation in ERA at 3.05.
• Matthew Mika and Ray Alejo lead The American in stolen bases with 24 and 21, respectively.
• Dallas Beaver is hitting .267 with two doubles and seven walks over the last 11 games in the leadoff spot.
• One member of the trio of Mika, Thomas and Tyler Osik has driven in a run in 38 of UCF's 44 games this season.
• Thomas extended his on-base streak to 52 games. If he reaches safely against FAU, the sophomore will break Kiko Vazquez's single-season record of 44 games.
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