ARLINGTON, Texas – Fresh off a final conference series victory at Baylor, the UCF baseball team will open play at the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship on Tuesday against Cincinnati.
The Knights will enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed after finishing eighth in the Big 12 standings with a 14-15 conference clip. UCF will enter at 33-18 overall and having won seven of its last 10 games. The Bearcats have earned the tournament’s fifth seed after going 31-23 overall and taking fifth in the league with a 17-13 conference mark. The modified double-elimination Big 12 Championship will run Tuesday through Saturday at Glob Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Tuesday’s contest will be the third game of the day and is set for a 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT start. The game will air live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Marc Daniels and Stephen Branca will also have the call on the radio on 96.9 The Game, and live stats can be followed by visiting Big12.Statbroadcast.com.
“It was good to take that final series at Baylor over the weekend. We needed to get a win like that to get us going for this week,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “I told the guys that this is our shot to go and win a championship. We’re looking forward to starting that process on Tuesday against Cincinnati.”
After dropping two of three to No. 18 Texas in its home finale the previous week, UCF responded by taking two of three at Baylor to finish the regular season over the weekend. The Black and Gold took Friday’s first game of a doubleheader by a score of 6-4 but dropped the nightcap of the twin bill, 4-2. The Knights then built an early lead on Saturday and managed to hold on late to win its sixth Big 12 series of the year with a 10-8 victory on Saturday.
The Black and Gold jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in Friday’s opener and managed to tack on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to go on and take the first game of the series. Senior right-hander Ben Vespi had a dominant start in the game as he went 6.0 innings and allowed just two unearned runs on four hits while matching a season-high in strikeouts with seven. Vespi went on to earn his fourth win of the season to move to 4-3. Kris Sosnowski then came on late and tossed a scoreless inning and a third to record his first save of the weekend.
Braden Calise led the Knights offensively in the ballgame by going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while Matt Prevesk, Jack Zyska, and Matt Cedarburg all had two hits apiece.
Defensive miscues doomed the Knights in Friday’s nightcap, as Baylor scored four unearned runs to take the contest by a score of 4-2. Trailing 4-0 in the seventh, the senior Cedarburg belted out a two-run home run to left center, but it ended up being all the offense the Black and Gold could get in the contest as BU’s Ethan Calder went seven innings and Andrew Petrowski followed by earning a two-inning save.
In Saturday’s regular-season finale, UCF scored six runs in the top of the first and four more over to the next couple of innings to build an early 10-2 lead. Mikey Kluska had a big hit in the first with a bases-clearing double and Andrew Brait capped the scoring with a two-run single in the fourth. The Bears chipped away at the deficit and made it a 10-8 game in the eighth, but on came the right-hander Sosnowski to earn his second save in just over 24 hours by tossing an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief.
For the series, Cedarburg paced the Knights by hitting .429 with two doubles, a homer, three runs scored and two runs batted in. He also recorded multiple hits in all three games and will enter the tournament on a seven-game hitting streak. Lex Boedicker and Calise were next by each hitting .400 this past weekend with three runs batted in apiece and six combined runs scored. The senior Vespi led the UCF starting rotation by going 1-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA and seven strikeouts over 6.0 innings of work. Fellow starter Dom Stagliano too posted a perfect 0.00 ERA over 4.0 innings, while Sosnowski led the way from the bullpen with two saves and a 0.00 ERA over 3.0 innings.
On the season, Matt Prevesk paces the Black and Gold with an even .360 batting average and 76 total hits. His batting average and hit total are good enough to rank him fourth in the league in each category. He also fronts the Knights in runs scored with 41 and has 18 extra-base hits and 35 RBIs. Senior Jack Zyska is next with a .305 average and team-leading tallies of 10 homers, 11 doubles, 43 RBIs, and a .933 OPS. Junior right-hander Dom Stagliano and the senior RHP Vespi pace the UCF starting rotation. Stagliano will enter with a 3-4 win-loss record and a 3.82 ERA, while Vespi is 4-3 with a 4.11 ERA and tops the team in strikeouts with 66 in 70.0 innings of work. The sophomore Sosnowski has been key from the bullpen as of late and holds a 2.73 ERA on the year with five saves.
All-Big 12 Honors
Junior right-hander Dom Stagliano was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team on Monday and five others earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades in seniors Chase Centala (RHP), Kyle Kramer (RHP), and Danny Neri (catcher), as well as juniors Dominic Castellano (LHP) and Matt Prevesk (outfield). The honors mark the program’s first in the new conference, as this season is UCF’s inaugural year in the Big 12.
About Cincinnati
The Bearcats will enter Tuesday seeded fifth in the Big 12 standings after going 31-23 overall and 17-13 in league play. UC is 6-2 over its last eight games with series wins over West Virginia and BYU during the stretch as well as dropping two of three to the 2024 regular season conference champion Oklahoma Sooners this past weekend. Cincinnati claimed two of three the Knights when the two met up at John Euliano Park at the end of April.
Josh Hegemann leads UC with a .345 batting average. Kerrington Kross follows with a .325 clip, while All-Big 12 First Team performer Josh Kross is next with a .321 average and leads the team in 19 homers, 13 doubles, 65 runs batted in, and a 1.096 OPS. Right-hander Nathan Taylor fronts the starting rotation with an 8-2 record and a 5.45 ERA, while All-Big 12 Second Team member Christian Mitchelle leads the ‘pen with six saves and a 3.86 ERA.
Cincinnati is coached by Jordan Bischel, who is in his first season at Cincinnati. Bischel will enter play with a 31-23 record at UC and a 208-103 NCAA Division I mark, after previously compiling a 177-80 clip in five years at Central Michigan.
Scheduled Starting Pitchers
Second Team All-Big 12 performer Stagliano (3-4, 3.82 ERA) is scheduled to get the ball for the Knights in Tuesday’s opener against Cincinnati, while UC will go with fellow right-hander Taylor (8-2, 5.45 ERA).
All-Time Series History vs. Cincinnati
Tuesday’s ballgame will be the 36th all-time meeting between the Knights and Bearcats. Former conference mates in The American, UCF and UC have played each other every season since 2014 (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign). The Black and Gold will enter play with a 20-15 all-time advantage over Cincinnati, which includes a 3-1 mark in conference tournament play. Just last year, UCF defeated UC by a score of 4-3 at the AAC Tournament thanks to a walk-off home run from Andrew Brait.
On Deck
The modified double-elimination Big 12 Championship will continue for UCF either on Wednesday or Thursday. With a win, the Knights will either move on to face No. 2 Oklahoma State on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT or a to-be-announced opponent on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT. With a loss, UCF will head to an elimination game against either No. 3 Texas or No. 10 Texas Tech on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT. To view more about the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, visit Big12Sports.com.
2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Schedule
Tuesday, May 21
Game 1 – No. 6 Kansas State vs. No. 7 Kansas – 9 a.m. CT – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 2 – No. 4 West Virginia vs. No. 9 TCU – 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 3 – No. 5 Cincinnati vs. No. 8 UCF – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 4 – No. 3 Texas vs. No. 10 Texas Tech – 7:30 p.m. CT – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Wednesday, May 22
Game 5 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET – ESPNU
Game 6 – No. 1 Oklahoma vs. lower-seeded winner of Games 1 & 2 – 12:30 p.m. CT – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 7 – Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 8 – No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. Lower-seeded winner of Games 3 & 4 – 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Thursday, May 23
Game 9 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser – 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 10 – Game 6 Winner vs. Higher-seeded winner of Games 1 & 2 – 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 11 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – ESPNU
Game 12 – Game 8 Winner vs. Higher-seeded winner of Games 3 & 4 – 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET – ESPNU
Friday, May 24
Game 13 – Game 10 Loser vs. Game 9 Winner – 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 14 – Game 10 Winner vs. Game 13 Winner (semifinal) – 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 15 – Game 12 Loser vs. Game 11 Winner – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 16 – Game 12 Winner vs. Game 15 Winner (semifinal) -7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Saturday, May 25
Game 17 – Championship Game – 6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET – ESPNU