No. 21 FLORIDA STATE – UCF MIDWEEK SERIES
Date: Tuesday – Wednesday, March 14-15
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Site: John Euliano Park
Time: 6 p.m. (Tues.) | 4 p.m. (Wed.)
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Tickets
STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday: LHP Brennen Oxford (FSU) vs. RHP Dom Stagliano (UCF)
Wednesday: TBD (FSU) vs. TBD (UCF)
Dom Stagliano will get the start for the Knights, marking his fourth for the Knights. He got the win in his last outing against North Florida, throwing 6.0 innings with two strikeouts, allowing a run and three hits. Stagliano has a 5.87 ERA on the season. He was named American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week after a seven strikeout, three hit, 5.0 inning shutout performance opening weekend. Notching two wins, both in his first and his most recent start, Stagliano owns a 2-0 record for the Knights.
For Florida State, redshirt senior left-hander Brennen Oxford is set to make his first career start against the Knights after 53 appearances out of the bullpen over five seasons. In his first year with the Seminoles, the four-year Wake Forest transfer has a 2.70 ERA through 6.2 innings of relief. This season he has struck out 10, walked four, and allowed nine hits—four of them extra-base hits. In his most recent appearance in FSU's first conference series-clinching win over Pittsburgh, Oxford faced two batters, allowing a hit and surrendering a walk, but getting no outs. Over 49.2 career innings, Oxford has notched 60 strikeouts and has posted a career 5.62 ERA.
Wednesday's pitching matchup is TBD.
UCF versus FSU History
UCF is 7-39 all-time against the Seminoles. Of those games, only 11 have been played at UCF, with 31 at Florida State and one at a neutral site—FSU leads the series at each location. The longest winning streak in series history was by the Seminoles from March 10, 2015 to March 21, 2018 stretching nine games. The Knights have dropped their last two meetings to Florida State with scores of 6-5 (10. inn) and 10-2. The final meeting of last year's midweek series was canceled, so the Knights and Seminoles have only met three times over the past four seasons.
Scouting the Seminoles
UCF hosts their first ranked team of the season as the No. 21 Seminoles come to John Euliano Park. The Seminoles have an 11-4 record. As a team, Florida State is slashing .317/.397/.517. They bring a high-powered offense, led by Colton Vincent and Jordan Carrion. Vincent is batting .408 with nine extra-base hits and ten strikeouts through 49 at-bats, appearing in all but one games for Florida State. Carrion leads the team in hits (23), doubles (8), triples (2) and RBI (17). Also notable, is James Tibbs III who leads the team with 17 walks, the next highest players coming in at 6 apiece. The Seminoles are 15-18 stolen base attempts.
Knights Knowledge
The 10-5 Knights rank in the top two in 12 categories in the American Athletic Conference. In seven of those categories, UCF is ranked first or tied first. The high-powered offense has a combined 35 home runs, slugging 2.33 per game and sitting top-10 in the nation in each of those categories, T-10 and five respectively. The Knights are 17-21 in stolen bases. Ben McCabe leads the Knights offense, hitting .439 with 10 home runs and is tied third in the nation in home runs. He also leads the Knights in multiple other offensive categories including runs (21), hits (25), RBI (18) and total bases (59). McCabe tied for fourth all-time in home runs at UCF on Saturday, knocking the 40th of his career. The Knights have a 5.35 team ERA, with 133 strikeouts in as many innings pitched.
UP NEXT
The Knights will host Dartmouth to conclude their 12-game homestand with a three-game weekend series at 6 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, March 17-19.