ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF baseball team will open its fall slate by hosting Florida Tech Sunday at 1 p.m. at John Euliano Park. The exhibition contest will feature a full nine innings and will be free and open to the public.
Sunday’s contest will be UCF’s first game of the fall and Knight Nation’s first chance to check out the 2024 squad. Head coach Rich Wallace enters his first season of the helm at UCF and welcomes in 23 newcomers to go along with 23 returners. Sixteen of the newcomers are transfers, while seven are freshmen. Graduate transfer Jack Zyska is one of the top transfers, as the outfielder comes to Orlando for his final season of eligibility from Notre Dame. In 2022, he was one of Notre Dame’s top hitters in which he slashed .294/.381/.627 with 13 homers, 12 doubles, 34 runs scored and 38 RBIs.
The Knights went 33-26 a season ago and return two-time all-conference performer and 2022 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American Andrew Sundean (C/DH), as well as 2022 first team all-conference pitcher Ben Vespi (RHP). The pair along with a number of other upperclassmen will look to usher UCF into the Big 12 Conference era this spring.
Florida Tech, who hails from Melbourne, Florida, and is an NCAA Division II member, went 23-26 overall in 2023 and 12-18 in the Sunshine State Conference. FIT is led by head coach Jeff Tam who is entering his third season of coaching for the Panthers.
Following Sunday’s contest, the Knights will continue their fall slate by hosting the Black & Gold World Series next weekend, Oct. 20-22, at John Euliano Park. UCF will then close its fall season by welcoming Rollins College to town on Friday, Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. All of UCF’s fall contests will be free of charge.