ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team will play its final home game of the 2024 season on Tuesday night against Bethune-Cookman. (***As of Tuesday afternoon, the game has officially been canceled due to inclement weather and will not be made up).
The non-conference midweek contest is set to begin at 6 p.m. at John Euliano Park. Live audio will be available for the ballgame by visiting UCFKnights.com and live stats can also be followed at ucf.statbroadcast.com.
The Knights will enter the in-state contest with a 31-17 overall record and having clinched a spot to compete in next week’s Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, as the team currently sits in ninth place in the Big 12 standings with a 12-14 league mark. Following Tuesday’s game, UCF will head to the Lone Star State for its final conference series of the season Thursday to Saturday at Baylor.
The Black and Gold went 2-2 last week with a 7-4 midweek win over North Florida and capped the week by taking one of three games against No. 18 Texas in the Longhorns’ first-ever trip to John Euliano Park. In three tightly contested ballgames, Texas claimed the first and third games of the series by scores of 6-3 and 10-7, while UCF held on to take Saturday’s contest by a run, 5-4, on Senior Knight.
In Friday’s opener, the Knights pulled within a run late with a pair of seventh inning runs to make it a 4-3 contest. Mikey Kluska came in to score one of the two runs on a Texas throwing error while Jack Zyska drove in the other with a sacrifice fly. Despite strong pitching from UCF’s bullpen down the stretch, the Longhorns would manage to push across a pair of late insurance runs to claim Friday’s opener.
The Black and Gold responded on Saturday, as Dom Stagliano got off to a strong start on the mound and Matt Prevesk belted out a three-run homer in the third inning to give the Knights an early 3-0 advantage. UCF added a run in the fourth and after UT made it a 4-3 game in the seventh, the Black and Gold added what proved to be a crucial insurance run thanks to a clutch RBI triple from Danny Neri. Texas then got a solo homer in the ninth, but Dominic Castellano shut the door on the Longhorn offense the rest of the way to preserve the win for the Knights.
After retiring the first 13 batters he faced in the game, Stagliano earned the win to improve to 3-3 on the year after surrendering just three runs on two hits while tying a season-high in strikeouts with seven. Castellano then tossed the final 2.1 innings of strong relief, as he fanned five and allowed just one run on two hits to record his third save of the season. Offensively, Andrew Brait and Branden Calise tallied two hits apiece, while Prevesk went 1-for-2 with the three-run home run.
In Sunday’s rubber match, UCF fell behind early but responded with a five-run fifth inning to deadlock the score at 5-5. The game then went back and forth from there, as Texas scored three in the sixth, but the Knights again countered with two in the seventh to pull within a run at 8-7. UT would go on to add a pair of insurance runs in the eighth and managed to hold on from there to clinch the series.
Prevesk again had another nice game for the Black and Gold offense on Sunday by going 3-for-5 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Matt Cedarburg also had a multiple-hit performance by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Six pitchers appeared in Sunday’s game for UCF and seniors Chase Centala, Spencer Bauer and Kyle Kramer led the way by all tossing strong innings of relief.
Over four games last week, Prevesk led the offense by hitting .533 (8-for-15) with a homer, five runs scored and five runs batted in. He also tallied an impressive 1.321 OPS. The senior Brait was next by batting .467 with five runs scored and an RBI, while fellow senior Neri hit an even .400 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. Stagliano and the senior Kramer each tallied 1-0 records on the mound last week, while Bauer had a pair of scoreless relief appearances.
Prevesk will enter Tuesday tied for second in the Big 12 with 72 hits and third in batting average with a .365 clip. He also has 15 extra-base hits, 34 RBIs and is second in runs scored with 38. Zyska is next with a .314 clip and leads the team in home runs with 10, doubles with 11, RBIs with 42, runs scored with 40, and a .966 OPS. Brait follows with a .292 average and 37 runs scored. The right-hander Stagliano leads the starting rotation with a 3-3 record, a 4.06 ERA, and is limiting opponents to an impressive .186 average. Ben Vespi fronts the club in strikeouts with 59 in 64.0 innings, while the reliever Castellano is 5-0 with a 2.64 ERA.
Scheduled Starting Pitchers for Tuesday
Senior right-handed pitcher Cade Boxrucker will make his 11th start of the season and his seventh midweek start for the Knights on Tuesday. He’ll enter with a 3-2 record and a 6.42 ERA. This will mark his second start of the season against Bethune-Cookman, as he previously went 4.1 innings and allowed just one run on three hits while striking out four in a 14-1 win. RHP Joel Core will get the start for B-CU (1-4, 5.72 ERA).
About Bethune-Cookman
The Wildcats will enter Tuesday with a 28-23 overall record and in second place in the SWAC East Division with an 18-8 league record. B-CU has won three of its last five contests after taking a series from Florida A&M May 3-5 and splitting two games at Jackson State over the weekend. Bethune-Cookman was picked to finish second in the SWAC East Division this season after finishing second a year ago with a 33-27 overall record and a 20-9 conference clip.
Jose Gonzalez paces B-CU with a .357 batting average, 16 extra-base hits, 44 RBIs, and 36 runs scored. Irvin Escobar is next with a .304 average, while Manny Souffrain is batting .303 with team-leading tallies of five homers and 38 runs scored. Tanner Boccabello fronts the pitching staff with a 7-2 record, 2.38 ERA, and 64 punchouts in 83.1 innings pitched.
The Wildcats are coached by Jonathan Hernandez. Hernandez, who is in his fifth season at the helm of B-CU, holds a 111-132 career record.
All-Time Series History vs. B-CU
Tuesday’s midweek will mark the 107 all-time meeting between the Knights and Wildcats and the final of two season meetings. UCF will enter with a commanding 89-17 all-time advantage and having won 12 straight contests, including a 14-1 victory at Jackie Robinson Ballpark last month.
Knights 13-2 vs. Sunshine State Foes, 11-1 in Midweek Action
UCF is off to an impressive 13-2 start against in-state foes in 2024 thanks to road wins over No. 4 Florida, Miami, Florida Atlantic, Jacksonville, Bethune-Cookman and North Florida as well as home midweek wins over Stetson, FAU, UNF (two), and FGCU and taking two of three at home from South Florida. The Knights are also 11-1 in midweek contests after opening the year 7-0. In midweek games, UCF has outscored its opponents with an impressive tally of 93 to 39.
Top 40 in the RPI
UCF holds the fifth highest RPI in the Big 12 Conference, as it enters the week with the nation’s 40th-best RPI. The Knights have been ranked as high as third nationally in the RPI this year, as they were ranked No. 3 in that category in early March. UCF was also ranked in the Top 25 for the first two weeks of April and made it as high as No. 16 by the NCBWA and No. 17 by D1Baseball and Perfect Game on the April 8 poll. It marked the first time that the Knights had been in the Top 25 since February of 2021.
On Deck
Following Tuesday’s home finale, the Knight will head to Waco, Texas, for their first-ever meeting against Baylor. The final regular-season Big 12 series of the season for both teams, will run Thursday to Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.