ORLANDO – Having won three straight and four of its last five ballgames, the UCF baseball team will welcome Texas Tech to John Euliano Park this weekend for a Big 12 Conference series.
With the Easter holiday on Sunday, the three-game series will run Thursday to Saturday, March 28-30. Thursday's opener has been pushed back to a 7:30 p.m. start, while first pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday’s finale will begin at 1 p.m. All three games will air live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Thursday and Saturday’s contests will also be on the radio on 96.9 The Game and live stats will be available throughout the series via ucf.statbroadcast.com.
“Texas Tech is a physical and talented team. We’re excited to tee this thing up on Thursday at John Euliano Park and give it our best effort,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said.
The Knights will enter the series with a 16-6 overall record and a 4-5 Big 12 Conference clip. UCF has won its last two conference series by taking two of three from both Oklahoma State and Kansas over the last two weeks. The Black and Gold are currently receiving votes for both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches and NCBWA top 25 polls, and currently hold the nation’s sixth-best RPI.
After sweeping a Saturday doubleheader to take two of three at Kansas over the weekend, UCF moved to 6-0 in midweek action with a 6-0 shutout victory at Jacksonville on Tuesday night. Senior right-hander Cade Boxrucker was lights out on Tuesday, as he finished just one out shy of a no-hitter. Boxrucker allowed just five batters to reach base over a career-long 8.2 innings. He surrendered just one hit and no runs while striking out four. Boxrucker threw 112 pitches on the night and retired 12 batters via groundout and 10 via flyout.
After getting back-to-back nice defensive plays from his middle infielders to end the seventh, Boxrucker then retired the Dolphins in order for the fourth time on the night in the eighth inning to take a no-hitter into the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, the UCF right-hander then drew a flyout to right field for out number one and followed that up with a strikeout for out number two. Just one out away, JU’s Abdriel Delgado managed to drop in double to left centerfield just out of the reach of a sprinting Andrew Williamson for Jacksonville’s first hit of the night. Spencer Bauer then entered the game and promptly drew a game-ending groundout to record the combined one-hit shutout.
The shutout marked UCF’s second of the season, as it previously shut out South Florida, 1-0, on March 3.
Offensively, UCF scored a pair of unearned runs in the second and another in the third to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Knights then added three more in the sixth on a bases-clearing triple from Mikey Kluska to put the game away.
Matt Prevesk led the Black and Gold at the plate on Tuesday by going 3-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base. The junior outfielder finished a homer shy of the cycle, as he singled, doubled, and tripled in the contest. Kluska also had a nice performance by going 1-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.
Over UCF’s last five games, Braden Calise leads the Knights with a .438 batting average. He has also doubled twice, stole two bases, and scored five runs. Prevesk is next during the stretch with a .400 clip, three extra-base hits and three runs scored, while Andrew Sundean follows with a .353 average and eight RBIs over the last five games.
On the season, Prevesk leads the Black and Gold with a .378 average. He also has six doubles, nine extra-base hits, 17 runs scored and 17 runs batted in. Jack Zyska is next with a .321 batting average, eight extra-base hits and 20 runs scored. Sundean too is batting over .300 with a .301 clip and team-leading tallies of 10 extra-base hits and 25 RBIs. Right-hander Wiley Hartley leads the starting rotation with a 2-1 record and a 2.84 ERA, while fellow righty Ben Vespi fronts the squad in both strikeouts (23) and innings pitched (28.0). Kyle Kramer (3-0 record, 2.65 ERA, one save) and Chase Centala (3-0, 3.00 ERA, five saves) lead the bullpen and have made a combined tally of 21 appearances on the year.
Scheduled Starting Rotation for the Series
Senior right-hander Ben Vespi (2-1, 4.50 ERA) will make his seventh straight weekend start for UCF on Thursday night. Stagliano (0-1, 3.63 ERA) is then scheduled to make his fifth weekend start on Friday, while Hartley (2-1, 2.84 ERA) will make his second consecutive weekend start on Saturday. The right-hander Mac Heuer (2-2, 5.18 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for the Red Raiders on Thursday. Fellow righty Kyle Robinson (3-2, 4.65 ERA) will then start on Friday and Saturday’s Texas Tech starter is TBA.
About Texas Tech
The Red Raiders will come to Orlando with an 18-7 overall record and tied with UCF for seventh in the Big 12 standings with a 4-5 conference mark. Texas Tech too will enter having won three straight and four of its last five games after taking two of three from BYU last weekend as well as midweek wins over Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian. TTU is currently receiving votes for the top 25 and previously spent the first five weeks of the season nationally ranked. The Red Raiders have won five Big 12 titles (’97, ’98, ’16, ’17, ’18) and made four College World Series appearances since 2014 (’14, ’16, ’18, ’19). Tech was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 this year after going 41-23 overall and taking sixth in the conference standings in 2023 with a 12-12 mark.
Damian Bravo paces the Texas Tech offense with a .437 batting average, 16 doubles, 31 RBIs and 32 runs scored. His 16 doubles are good enough to lead the nation. TJ Pompey is next with a .349 clip, nine extra-base hits, 27 RBIs, 23 runs scored and nine stolen bases. Preseason all-conference selection Gavin Kash will enter the weekend with a .297 average and leads the way in home runs with six. Friday’s scheduled starter Kyle Robinson leads the TTU rotation with a 3-2 record, 4.65 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 31.0 innings of work.
Texas Tech is coached by TTU alum Tim Tadlock. Tadlock is in his 12th season at the helm of the Red Raiders and holds a 438-224 career record. He has twice been named the National Coach of the Year (2014, 2018) and was also tabbed the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2016.
All-Time Series History
Thursday’s series opener will mark just the second all-time meeting between the Knights and Red Raiders. UCF will enter with a 1-0 advantage after picking up a 13-8 victory over Texas Tech on Feb. 23, 2013, at John Euliano Park as part of the Wawa Weekend Classic. This weekend will mark the first series between the two.
Knights 8-1 vs. Sunshine State Foes, Undefeated in Midweek Action
UCF is off to an 8-1 start against in-state foes in 2024 thanks to road wins over No. 4 Florida, Miami, Florida Atlantic, and Jacksonville, as well as taking two of three from rival South Florida at home as well as midweek victories over Stetson and FAU. In all, UCF is scheduled to face 16 Sunshine State opponents in 2024. The Knights are also a perfect 6-0 in midweek contests on the season and have outscored midweek foes 43 to 21.
On Deck
The Knights will have a busy week next week with five games on tap. UCF will first head to Daytona Beach to face Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday before returning home to host North Florida on Wednesday. The Black and Gold will then host its second consecutive Big 12 series next weekend when No. 23 Kansas State visits John Euliano Park.