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Baseball Begins Five-Game Road Trip with Midweek at No. 11 Miami

MIAMI – UCF MIDWEEK GAME
Date: Tuesday, April 4
Location: Coral Gables, Fla.
Site: Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field
Time: 6 p.m.
Live Video: ACCNX on ESPN+
Live Audio: UCF Athletics on Twitch
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast

Starting Pitchers
RHP Alejandro Rosario (Miami) vs. Cameron Leiter (UCF)

Cameron Leiter is set to make the sixth start of his true freshman season with UCF. In his last outing, Leiter made his first appearance in relief at Florida Atlantic, throwing 1.1 innings and allowing no runs while notching four strikeouts. In 18 innings on the season, Leiter has fanned 24 hitters and allowed 22 hits, posting a 9.18 ERA.

Miami's Alejandro Rosario has an 8.27 ERA over 7 starts this season. Through 32.2 innings of work, Rosario has given up 29 hits, 30 earned runs and 19 walks, while striking out 43.

Series History
Miami leads UCF 31-11 in the all-time series dating back to 1973. The Knights have won three of the last five meetings since 2018, dropping the most recent matchup on May 11, 2022 with a final score of 16-10.
 
Scouting the Hurricanes
Another power hitting team on UCF's schedule, Miami has slugged 57 home runs as a team, tied at No. 7 in home runs and No. 8 in home runs per game (2.04) in national rankings. With a .287 team average, the Canes are led by three hitters batting at .330 or above with Zach Levenson, Yolandy Morals, and CJ Kayfus.

The Canes have a 5.04 ERA and 1.36 WHIP as a team. Their pitching staff is led by reliever Andrew Walters' 1.46 ERA. Defensively, Miami has an impressive .975 fielding percentage.
 
Scouting the Knights
After dropping the first series of conference play, the Knights have a 16-9 overall record, 1-2 AAC. As a team, the Knights are hitting .296 with a .393 on base percentage and remain a top-20 team in the nation in home runs with 51 home runs, checking in at No. 18. Ben McCabe leads the team with 11 home runs, followed by Tom Josten with nine and Drew Faurot with eight. Five other Knights also have multiple home runs.

The offense continues to be led by five-year veteran McCabe, who, in addition to leading the team in home runs, boasts a .394 AVG with 41 hits and 23 RBI through the Knights' 28 games. McCabe is joined by Andrew Sundean, Andrew Brait, Nick Romano, who are all hitting at or above .325.

UCF has a team ERA of 4.89 and 1.40 WHIP. Ruddy Gomez leads the pitching staff as the Knights' Friday night ace with a 2.84 ERA over 44.1 innings of work and closer Kyle Kramer has racked up a team-leading 7 saves in 14 relief appearances, he's ranked second in the nation with that mark. Defensively, the Knights have a .966 fielding percentage.
 
Up Next
The Knights will travel to Greenville, N.C. for the second leg of their road trip to take on No. 12 East Carolina April 6-8 at 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 12 p.m. Saturday. They look to remain in the win column and extend the win streak beyond one game after dropping their previous five.