HOUSTON – Ben Vespi pitched seven stellar innings and Andrew Sundean blasted out a two-run home run to lead UCF baseball to a 4-1 Friday night Big 12 victory over Houston at Schroeder Park.
The senior right-hander Vespi tied a career-high by going 7.0 innings and allowed just one run on two hits while striking out five. He faced the minimum in four of his seven innings and retired the first 10 batters he faced to move to 3-2 on the season. Dominic Castellano then came on and pitched scoreless eighth and ninth frames to earn his second save. As a staff, the Knights (28-15, 10-12 Big 12) limited the Cougars (23-23, 6-16 Big 12) to just two hits on the evening.
“That’s as good of a start that I’ve seen since I’ve been back here as the head coach,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “He was on it with everything. Fastball, command, literally five pitches were in play. Competitiveness, holding runners, you couldn’t ask for more from Ben Vespi. He truly led us on a Friday night. Sometimes you need a guy to go out there and do that, and he was on it from pitch number one tonight.”
UCF got off to a quick start by picking up a run in the top of the first. Andrew Brait led things off with a single. He stole second and moved over to third via a groundout to the right side from Lex Boedicker. Jack Zyska continued his hot hitting with a sharp RBI single to left to give the Black and Gold the 1-0 lead.
With the starter Vespi having retired the first six batters he faced, the Knight offense again got things going in the third to add to their lead. Brait again led things off by reaching base, this time by reaching first on an error, and Sundean crushed out two-out two-run homer to left-center to make it 3-0. The home run traveled 400 feet and marked Sundean’s fifth of the year and his first since coming back from an injury last weekend.
Houston got on the board in the fifth via a solo homer from Cary Arbolida to left, but Vespi responded by retiring the next three batters he faced including back-to-back strikeouts to keep it a 3-1 advantage for the Black and Gold.
The Knights then tacked on an insurance run in the seventh to extend their lead to 4-1. Mikey Kluska led off the top of the frame with a single and moved over the second thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Brait. The junior first baseman Boedicker had the big hit of the inning with an RBI triple to left that got past a diving Ace Reese in left to give the Black and Gold the three-run cushion.
Vespi continued to pitch strong, as he retired the Cougars in order in the seventh via a groundout, strikeout, groundout to send it to the eighth.
The Knights then went to the bullpen and the southpaw Castellano retired six of the seven batters he faced over the final two innings to earn the save.
The 7.0 innings matches a career-high for Vespi, as he previously went seven innings on April 29, 2022, in a 2-1 win over Tulane. A four-year letterwinner for the Black and Gold, the senior Vespi will officially receive his degree from UCF in kinesiology on Saturday.
“A little bit of everything was working for me. Just executing pitches, trusting my stuff, believing in the defense behind me, and it felt good out there tonight,” Vespi said. “I was able to get some weak contact early and I found a way to use their aggressiveness against them. We have three series left and every win will be huge for us, and this one was no exception.”
.@benvespiiii is your Player of the Game!
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 4, 2024
IP: 7
H: 2
R: 1
K: 5 pic.twitter.com/wWnyin9nG3
Boedicker led the Knights offensively by going 2-for-5 with a triple and an RBI, while Sundean went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer. Brait continued his strong play as of late by scoring two runs and Zyska drove in his 40th run on the season by going 1-for-3 with an RBI. Arbolida paced UH by going 1-for-3 with a solo home run.
The Knights and Cougars will continue the series with game two on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT. The series will then conclude on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.