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Boedicker’s Big Night Leads No. 20 UCF to 7-4 Victory Over K-State

by James Warnick
Box Score

ORLANDO – Lex Boedicker went 4-for-5 with six RBIs on his way to helping lead No. 20 UCF to a 7-4 series-opening victory over Kansas State on Friday night at John Euliano Park.

The junior first baseman finished a triple shy of the cycle in the contest, as he singled, doubled twice, and homered. He also accounted for all seven of the Black and Gold’s runs by driving in six and scoring another all the way from second base on a wild pitch. The six RBIs is a season-high for Boedicker and the Knights, and his four hits ties a season-high for both him and the team.

With the victory UCF, who entered the national rankings this week and is tabbed 20th by Perfect Game and 25th by D1Baseball, improves 20-7 overall and 7-6 in Big 12 Conference play. K-State, who is currently receiving votes for both the NCBWA and ESPN/USA Today Coach polls, falls to 19-9 overall and 6-4 in league play with the setback.

“We left some things on the table early in this one with our short game that we need to cash in on, but to keep playing on a Friday night against a really good team was good to see,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “We showed a lot of resiliency as a team, and Lex had three really big swings in big moments for us. I’m proud of him and the team for battling in this one.”

Scoreless in the third, KSU’s Chuck Ingram tripled to right and later scored on a ground ball to give the Wildcats an early 1-0 advantage.

UCF responded with two runs of its own in the last of the third to take a 2-1 lead. With two outs and nobody on, the Black and Gold got back-to-back infield singles from Matt Prevesk and Braden Calise to start a two-out rally. Boedicker then drove them both home with a two-run double to right center to give the Knights the lead.

K-State countered with an unearned run in the fourth and another run in the fifth to take a 3-2 advantage.

In the bottom of the sixth, Calise worked a two-out walk and Boedicker delivered the big hit with a go-ahead two-run home run to right to give the Knights a 4-3 lead.

With the one-two relief punch of Kyle Kramer and Chase Centala putting up zeroes in the middle and late innings on the mound, Boedicker again delivered another two-run double in the eighth to give the Knights some insurance. His second two-run double drove home Prevesk and Calise to make it 6-3. Moments later, Boedicker made it 7-3 by coming around to score all the way from second base on a wild pitch that went to the backstop to give the Black and Gold a little breathing room.

With Centala on in the ninth going for a three-inning save, Brendan Jones managed to hit a solo home run out to right to make it 7-4. But Centala responded by retiring two of the next three batters he faced to end the ballgame and record his conference-leading seventh save of the season.

Ben Vespi started on the mound for the Knights and gave up just two earned runs (three total) on five hits while striking out a season-high seven batters over 4.0 innings of work. Kyle Kramer then tossed 2.0 impressive innings of relief in which he did not allow a hit or a run while striking out one and walking one to earn his team-leading fifth victory of the season (5-0). Centala then tossed a season-long 3.0 innings and gave up just one run on three hits while fanning four to record the save.

As a team, UCF tallied 14 hits in the ballgame. Behind Boedicker’s four, Calise went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a walk, while Prevesk and Andrew Brait recorded two apiece. Jones led K-State by going 2-for-4 with two runs batted in.  

The win marked UCF’s seventh out of its last eight ballgames.

The Knights and Wildcats will continue the series on Saturday at 6 p.m. UCF will look to clinch its fourth consecutive Big 12 series. The weekend series will then close with the third and final game on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will air live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.