Cincinnati, Ohio – The Knights rallied from a six-run deficit in the early innings and scored three in the final frame to secure a big 9-7 American Athletic Conference win over Cincinnati Sunday, taking the series 2-1.
With the win, the Knights improve to 29-23 on the season and 10-11 in AAC play, while the Bearcats drop to 22-29, 9-12 AAC.
Nick Romano continued to make his Player of the Week case with a two-home run game, adding three hits, two RBI and three runs to his weekly total in the contest. Romano started the Knights' rally, scoring first for UCF in the fourth inning to chip away at the 6-0 deficit with a solo shot was hammered to opposite field. In the sixth inning, he sent one over the left field fence for his 10th of the season, making him the seventh Knight with a double-digit home run total. Romano's two-home run game brought the team's weekend total to eight, as he became the fourth Knight with a multi-home run game in Cincinnati.
Drew Faurot cleared the bases in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 6-6 and erase the deficit. With the bases loaded by a Lex Boedicker walk, John Rhys Plumlee single, and Tom Josten walk, Faurot hammered a 1-1 pitch to right center field to plate all three and even the score.
The Bearcats got one back in the seventh, forcing a late-inning comeback.
Down by one heading into the ninth, the Knights were focused on passing the baton. Andrew Brait led off the inning with a full-count walk, McCabe and Romano were hit by pitches to load the bases. Boedicker, the Ohio native, stepped up to the plate with his family in the stands and lined a 1-1 pitch over the left fielder to score two and take the lead. Plumlee added an insurance run for the Knights with his second hit of the day, scoring Romano on a double to left field.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kyle Kramer worked out of a bases-loaded jam with the winning run on first base, tallying his fifth strikeout in two innings to end the game with the Knights on top. The bullpen kept the Knights in the game as Dom Stagliano, Jacob Marlowe, Najer Victor and Kramer combined for 7.2 innings, allowing only two earned runs and notching 12 strikeouts.
Up Next
The Knights return to Orlando to host the final week of the regular season at John Euliano Park. UCF is slated to take on Bethune-Cookman 6 p.m. Tuesday. Then, the Knights will wrap up American Athletic Conference regular season play, hosting Wichita State for a three-game series May 18-20 at 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.
On Saturday, UCF baseball will celebrate the contributions of its seniors prior to the final home game of the season.