Clearwater, Fla. – The UCF baseball team is in the American Athletic Conference Championship game for the first time in program history, as they are set to take on the No. 6 seed South Florida for the conference title.
First pitch is set for Sunday, May 30 at noon at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla. The contest will be broadcast nationally, on ESPNEWS.
Marc Daniels will have the call on FM96.9/AM740 The Game.
On Saturday, the Knights fell in their first contest against top-seeded East Carolina but was able to bounce back in the elimination game to take down the Pirates to earn the Championship berth.
Following a similar path to the championship game, South Florida also started the double-elimination tournament with back-to-back victories, before falling in its first semifinal matchup. The Bulls would also bounce back in the nightcap to take down No. 2 seed Tulane, 7-1.
Click here for Championship Central and to see the updated schedule and coverage for the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championship.
KNIGHTS NOTABLES
- In their second win of the American Athletic Conference Championship, the Knights set the record for home runs in a single game, with seven.
- UCF picked up a first round victory in AAC Championship for the first time since 2014, defeating Cincinnati in a thriller, 14-10.
- Sitting a 2-0 in the Championship, UCF is undefeated through the first two games of the conference tournament for the first time since 2014.
- Jordan Rathbone's 16 home runs in 2021 leads the Knights and is tied for fifth all-time in UCF program history.
- The Knights have stolen 86 bases as a team, led by Gephry Pena with 27 to lead the American Athletic Conference.
- During regular season play, the Black and Gold split the four-game series with East Carolina on the road.
- Jordan Rathbone was unanimously named to the First Team AAC All-Conference team on Monday, joined by Colton Gordon, Josh Crouch and Gephry Pena on the Second Team.
SCOUTING SOUTH FLORIDA
- In order to earn the semifinal bid South Florida defeated the No. 2 seed Tulane in the elimination game Saturday night, 7-1.
- The Knights and Bulls have met eight times in the regular season, with UCF taking the edge, five games to three.
- This will be just the second time the two clubs have met in postseason play, the first time they met was in 2017, where UCF took down the Bulls, 12-0.
- South Florida had two All-Conference honorees, Carmine Lane and Collin Sullivan.
- Lane hit .305 on the year, and leads USF in batting average (.328), hits (66), doubles, (13), RBI (35) and runs (35).
- Sullivan ranked third in the AAC this season in ERA (2.36) and fourth in strikeouts (48) over seven starts against conference opponents.
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