Knights Score Early, Hold on Late to Secure Final Series Over BaylorKnights Score Early, Hold on Late to Secure Final Series Over Baylor

Knights Score Early, Hold on Late to Secure Final Series Over Baylor

by James Warnick
Box Score

WACO, Texas – UCF scored 10 early runs and managed to hold on late to claim Saturday’s regular-season finale over Baylor by a score of 10-8.

With the victory, the Knights won their sixth Big 12 Conference series of the season to improve to 33-18 overall and finished eighth in the Big 12 standings with a 14-15 league mark. By taking eighth, the Knights have earned the No. 8 seed for next week’s Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship and will open their inaugural run at the Big 12 Championship against No. 5 Cincinnati on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

In Saturday’s ballgame, UCF jumped out to an early 10-2 lead in the fourth inning, but the Bears (22-31, 10-20 Big 12) fought back with six runs over the final six innings to make things interesting. With one out and a runner aboard in the eighth, the Knights then went to Kris Sosnowski on the mound and the sophomore closer went on to finish things out to record his second save of the series.

“It was a quick turn around on their senior day, and I was proud of the guys for getting off to that fast start in this one. We took advantage of a couple of early errors and had a big bases-clearing double from Mikey ‘Klutchka’ (Kluska). Andrew Brait also had a couple of big hits for us as well as a fantastic diving play to really help us out,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “I don’t know where we’d be this year without Sosnowski emerging as one of our better relievers. For him to come in and record his second save in just over 24 hours says a lot about his toughness and grit.”  

The Knights took advantage of a pair of BU errors in the first to jump out to a quick 6-0 lead. Brait and Matt Prevesk both singled and Matt Cedarburg reached on an error to load the bases with one out in the frame. Lex Boedicker followed by driving in the first run of the game with an RBI single to right. With two outs, Braden Calise then reached on a fielding error that Prevesk scored on, and Andrew Williamson followed by drawing a bases loaded walk to extend the lead to 3-0. Senior shortstop Mikey Kluska capped the crooked inning with a bases-clearing double off the wall in left-center to cap the big inning. The six-run first marks the first time UCF has plated six runs in the opening inning since May 27, 2022, in the AAC Tournament against Memphis.

The Black and Gold tacked on a run in the second to extend their lead to 7-0. Cedarburg started the frame with a one-out double and Boedicker drove in his second run of the day with an RBI single to left center to give the Knights the seven-run cushion.

The Bears got on the board in the bottom of the second with a pair of runs to make it a 7-2 contest. With two on and two out, Enzo Apodaca drove in two runs with a two-run double to center.

After UCF starter Wiley Hartley retired Baylor in order in the bottom of the third, the Black and Gold offense responded with three more runs in the fourth to extend its advantage to 10-2.  With two on and nobody out, Calise drove home Boedicker with a sharp infield single to make it 8-2. Following a sacrifice bunt from Williamson and a lineout, Brait plated two more with a two-run single to right.

Baylor countered back with a run in the fourth, one in the fifth, and another in the sixth to make it a 10-5 game. The Bears then got a solo homer from Wesley Jordan that was just out of the reach of a leaping attempt from Williamson in center field in the seventh to make it 10-6.

The BU offense continued the comeback attempt with two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull within two at 10-8. With two runners aboard and threatening for more, Kris Sosnowski came on and managed to draw an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play that was completed with a nice pick out of the dirt at first by Boedicker to send it to the ninth.

In the last of the ninth, BU got the leadoff man aboard on an error, but Sosnowski responded by striking out the next two men he faced. Down to their final out, Mason Greer drove a ball to right field by UCF’s Jack Zyska was able to get under to make the play and end the ballgame.

Hartley earned the win for the Knights on the mound after allowing three runs on three hits while striking out two to move to 3-2 on the year. Dominic Castellano and Chase Centala pitched over the middle to late innings, and Sosnowski went an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief to earn his fifth save of the year. BU starter Collin McKinney was tagged with the loss to drop to 3-6.

Offensively, Boedicker led the Black and Gold by going a perfect 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and two runs batted in. Brait followed by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Cedarburg doubled twice and scored two runs, and Prevesk went 2-for-6 with a double and a run scored. Kluska led the way in RBIs by going 1-for-5 with the bases-clearing double in the first. Enzo Apodaca paced BU by going 4-for-5 with three runs batted in.

The 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship will run Tuesday through Saturday, May 21-25, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The eighth-seeded Knights will open play on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT against the fifth-seeded Bearcats. To view more about the 2024 Big 12 Championship, visit Big12Sports.com. To view the bracket for the tournament, click HERE.