ORLANDO – Cincinnati scored eight unanswered runs in the late innings to take the series opener over UCF, 9-4, on Friday night at John Euliano Park.
With the Knights (25-14, 8-11 Big 12) holding to a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning following six strong innings from starter Ben Vespi, the Bearcats (24-18, 10-9 Big 12) scored three runs in the top of the seventh to tie things up and added five more in the eighth to earn the come-from-behind victory.
“Our bullpen had a hard time executing pitches tonight. Their stuff was fine, but they’ve got to do a better job of executing,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “Ben Vespi was on it with all of his pitches. He gave us everything he had. We turned it over to the bullpen, but it just didn’t work out.”
Deadlocked in a pitcher’s duel with the Bearcats holding to a 1-0 lead, UCF got things going for the first time with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. Andrew Estrella worked a two-out walk and Mikey Kluska followed with a single through the right side to put runners on first and second. AJ Nessler then followed with an RBI single to right that drove in Estrella from second with a head-first dive just ahead of the tag at the plate to tie the game at 1-1. With two runners on and a 2-2 count to Jack Zyska, the senior right fielder rocketed a ball just over the wall in left for a three-run home run to give the Knights a 4-1 lead. The homer marked Zyska’s team-leading eighth of the season.
After a scoreless sixth, Cincinnati struck back in the top of the seventh with three runs of its own to tie the game at 4-4. After back-to-back walks to start the inning, UC then got a single to center to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Luke Sefcik made it 4-2, and Landyn Vidourek followed with a two-run double to center to tie things up.
The Bearcats followed with five more runs in the eighth to take the lead for good. UC loaded the bases with nobody out and worked a bases-loaded walk to take a 5-4 lead. Sefcik followed with his second RBI of the game with an RBI single through left side. Following a strikeout for the second out, Kerrington Cross delivered the big hit with a bases-clearing double down the leftfield line to give Cincinnati a 9-4 advantage.
After going down in order in the bottom of the eighth, Andrew Sundean led off the ninth by getting hit by a pitch, but UC’s Carson Marsh responded with a double-play ground ball and a strikeout to seal the victory for the Bearcats.
The senior Vespi had a solid start for UCF on the evening by allowing just two runs on one hit while striking out four over six-plus innings. The 6.0 innings of work tied a season-high for Vespi. Black and Gold reliever Kyle Kramer was tagged with the loss to drop to 5-3 on the year after surrendering three runs on three hits over an inning-plus of relief work. UC’s Carson Marsh earned the win in relief for the Bearcats after tossing three scoreless innings to move to 3-2 on the year.
Zyska led the Knights offensively by going 1-for-4 with a three-run home run. Nessler followed by going 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Sefcik led Cincinnati by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Cross went 1-for-4 with a double, three RBIs, and a run scored.
The Black and Gold will look to bounce back on Saturday night, as the series continues with game two at 6 p.m. The third and final game of the series will then come on Sunday at 1 p.m.