ORLANDO - UCF baseball pulled within a run in the seventh but fell short in the first game of its final home series, 6-3, against No.18 Texas on Friday night at John Euliano Park.
“We had the chance to make a lot of plays and when you give the other team too many outs, they’re gonna score,” said head coach Rich Wallace. “There’s big moments out there and if the team doesn’t seize them, they feel like they left something out on the field.”
The game marked the first time the Knights (30-16, 11-13 Big 12) have faced the Longhorns (31-19, 16-9 Big 12) in program history and the second consecutive series against a team from the Lone Star State. Texas is currently tied for second in the Big 12 standings and ranked 18th by Perfect Game and 25th by Baseball America this week.
The Black and Gold picked up an early run in the first before UT quickly tied it up in the second. The Longhorns took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-run home run from Will Gasparino. After another run scored by the Longhorns in the sixth, the Knights bounced back in the bottom of the seventh with two runs to make it a 4-3 game. In the top of the ninth, the Longhorns secured the win with a pair of insurance runs on a two-run single from Jalin Flores.
Jack Zyska collected two RBIs in the contest, both were sacrifice flies that sent Andrew Brait home. Mikey Kluska also scored a run for the Knights on a throwing error following a Brait single. The Black and Gold threatened in the bottom of the eighth after three walks to load the bases before they escaped with a fly out.
Spencer Bauer took the mound for the first time since April 26 against the Cincinnati Bearcats after a hiatus from an injury. Bauer threw two scoreless innings of relief facing seven batters.
Starting pitcher Ben Vespi had a strong beginning to his outing with a scoreless first inning. In the bottom of the first, Brait walked on ball four and Boedicker singled to advance him to third. The Knights scored first with the first sacrifice fly from Zyska.
In the top of the second, the Longhorns scored their first run of the evening to tie it up at 1-1. In the top of the third, Vespi escaped the inning with a strikeout to prevent a runner on third from scoring.
In the top of the fourth, UT’s Porter Brown singled and quickly advanced to third on a throwing error. The Longhorns took the lead with a two-run home run from center fielder Gasparino.
In the top of the fifth, Longhorn Max Belyeu doubled down the right field line. The Knights quickly responded with a 9-4-6 double play to end the fifth. Bauer took the mound in the top of the sixth and quickly retired the batter to end the inning after the Longhorns scored another run.
In the top of the seventh, the Black and Gold turned their second inning-ending double play of the contest. In the bottom of the seventh, the Knights narrowed the gap with Kluska scoring on a throwing error and Zyska swinging another sacrifice fly to bring Brait home.
In the top of the eighth, Kyle Kramer took the mound and assisted Kluska and Boedicker with another double play to end the top half of the frame. In the bottom of eighth, the Black and Gold threatened the Longhorns by loading the bases after each batter walked. Texas escaped the inning with a fly out to deep right field from Brait.
In the top of the ninth, UT added to its lead with a pair of insurance runs. The Knights responded by turning their season-high fourth double play of the evening but were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth.
Zyska led UCF offensively on the night by going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in. Danny Neri also had a two-hit game by going 2-for-3 while Brait went 1-for-4 with two runs scored. Gasparino paced the Longhorns by going 1-for-4 with three runs batted in.
UT starter Max Grubbs earned the win to improve to 5-4 on the year while UCF’s Vespi was tagged with the loss (3-3). Gage Boehm pitched two scoreless frames in the late innings for Texas to earn his sixth save.
The contest marked the opening to the last home series for the Knights as well as 1989 night. UCF baseball alumni from the 1989 season were honored in the game as the first UCF team to make an NCAA Regional appearance and win the program’s first NCAA Tournament contest. The ‘89 head coach, Jay Bergman was also recognized as UCF’s winningest coach in program history spanning 26 seasons.
The Knights look to bounce back as the series continues on Saturday at 6 p.m. The contest will mark Senior Knight where 17 Knights will be recognized prior to the game at approximately 5:30 p.m.
“This is a special group well beyond college baseball. These seniors made the choice to be a Knight and do something great for the program,” Wallace said. “We’re going to get this program rolling and when we look back on it, these seniors are going to be the one who started it.”
The series will conclude on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The remaining games will air live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ as well as 96.9 The Game.