DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 20th-ranked UCF baseball team tallied 16 hits and scored 14 runs while the pitching staff held Behune-Cookman to just one run en route to recording a 14-1 victory Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
With the win, the Knights improve to 19-7 on the season and remain undefeated in midweek action at a perfect 7-0.
“Obviously it starts with the starting pitcher. Boxrucker wasn’t on it at the beginning, but he did a nice job of pitching out some jams early. His stuff was good enough to take us deep into that game, but he just wasn’t efficient enough early with some of those long counts and walks. But he got us off to a good start and then Bauer, Sosnowski, and Victor were good for us in relief,” head coach Rich Wallace said.
Six Knights posted multiple hits on the evening. Andrew Brait led the way by going 3-for-6 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored, while Andrew Estrella and Lex Boedicker each drove in a game-high three runs. Matt Prevesk, Braden Calise, Mikey Kluska and Anthony Calabro all recorded two hits apiece for the Black and Gold on the night.
“It was nice to see our offense string together some nice at-bats together,” Wallace added. “Over the weekend we’d have one good at-bat and then a couple not so good ones. Tonight, you saw some guys stack at-bat-after-at-bat and it was nice to see.”
The reigning Big 12 Conference Co-Newcomer of the Week Cade Boxrucker had another good start for the Black and Gold to improve to 3-1 on the season. Boxrucker struck out four and surrendered just one run on three hits. A week removed from being one-out away from a no-hitter at Jacksonville last Tuesday, he did not allow a hit until the fifth inning against B-CU (15-12).
A trio of relievers—Spencer Bauer, Kris Sosnowski and Najer Victor—combined for 4.2 of scoreless relief in the contest. Bauer went 2.1 and gave up just two hits while striking out two, while Sosnowski followed with a perfect third of an inning. The senior Victor then tossed the final two innings and gave up just one hit while fanning two.
The Knights got off to a strong start by driving home a trio of runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead. With Calise on first base with two outs, Jack Zyska doubled him home for the first run. Estrella immediately followed with an RBI ground-rule double to right center to plate Zyska, and Calabro capped the scoring in his first start in a UCF uniform with an RBI single to center. The hit and the RBI marked a first at the Division I level for the fifth-year senior Calabro.
With Boxrucker putting up zeros on the mound, UCF drove in four more runs in the fourth to extend its advantage to 7-0. With the bases loaded and one away, Boedicker started the scoring by getting hit by a pitch to bring in Kluska. Zyska followed by drawing a bases-loaded walk, and Estrella capped the scoring in the frame with a two-run single through the left side to give the Knights the seven-run lead.
The Wildcats loaded the bases in the fifth and managed to push across a run to make it a 7-1 contest. With the bases still loaded and just one away, Spencer Bauer came on from the Black and Gold bullpen and managed to retire the first two batters he faced to strand a trio of baserunners.
The Knights then tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to make it 9-1. With two outs and two on, Boedicker drove both Dylan King and Calise home with a two-run triple to right to extend the lead.
UCF added four more runs in eighth and one more in the ninth to put the game away. Brait, Prevesk and Calise all had RBI hits for the Black and Gold in the eighth, while Brait added another RBI single in the ninth to bring in Keano Suarez.
The win not only moves UCF to 7-0 in midweek competition on the season but also to 9-1 on the year against Sunshine State foes. It also marked the Black and Gold’s first win when being nationally ranked since Feb. 21, 2021 when they defeated Florida Atlantic on opening weekend by a score of 15-6. UCF currently ranked 20th by Perfect Game and 25th by D1Baseball.
The Knights will look to continue their winning ways in midweek action on Wednesday when they host North Florida at 6 p.m. The contest will be Citronaut Wednesday, and live audio will be available by visitin UCFKnights.com. Following Wednesday’s ballgame, UCF will return to Big 12 play as Kansas State will visit John Euliano Park for a three game series Friday to Sunday.