HOUSTON – Mikey Kluska delivered a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth and Kyle Kramer and Kris Sosnowski pitched well down the stretch to lead UCF to a 6-4 Saturday night victory over Houston to clinch the Big 12 series.
The Knights improve to 29-15 overall and have clinched their fifth Big 12 series of the season to move to 11-12 on the year in conference play. The Cougars drop to 23-24 overall and 6-17 in Big 12 play with the setback. UCF will go for the series sweep in the weekend finale on Sunday.
“Dom Stagliano was obviously outstanding for us as he had a no-hitter into the sixth inning. We had a situation that inning where we had two strikes on four straight batters, and they managed to tie things up with one swing of the bat. That was a kick in the gut, but I was proud of the guys for responding the way that they did,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “Sunny gets the walk, and we later load the bases. And Mikey gets a ball that he can handle on the first pitch with a big two-out knock. Then I can’t say enough about Kramer and Sosnowski down the stretch.”
Scoreless in the second, Matt Prevesk worked a walk and Anthony Calabro followed with a single to right to put runners on the corners with one away. Danny Neri then drove in Prevesk with an RBI fielder’s choice to first to give the Knights an early 1-0 lead.
UCF starter Dom Stagliano got off to a strong start on the mound, as he sat the first nine Cougars down in order. With the Black and Gold holding to the 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth, Neri worked a one-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Braden Calise then singled to right to move Neri to third. With one out and runners on the corners, Kluska dropped in a bloop RBI single just over the UH shortstop Coby DeJesus’ head to bring in Neri and extend UCF’s advantage to 2-0. The Knights later loaded the bases in the frame and looked for more, but Houston starter Antoine Jean managed to pitch out of it to keep it a 2-0 contest.
The Knights then added two more runs in the sixth to extend their advantage to 4-0. With one out and nobody on, UCF got back-to-back-to-back hits to take the four-run lead. Prevesk started the spurt with a triple off the wall in right-center and Calabro quickly followed with an RBI double down the leftfield line to bring in Prevesk. With Calabro on second, Neri brought him home with an RBI single to left.
With Stagliano having thrown 5.2 innings of no-hit baseball for the Black and Gold, the Cougars managed to pick up their first hit off him with a two-out double from Kenneth Jimenez. After back-to-back walks to load the bases, UCF went to the bullpen. UH’s Harold Coll then tied things up with one swing of the bat with a grand slam to left to knot up the score at 4-4.
After Kyle Kramer struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, the Knight offense rallied in the top of the eighth to regain the lead. Andrew Sundean, Neri, and pinch-hitter Andrew Estrella all worked walks to load the bases. With two outs, the senior shortstop Kluska delivered the big hit with the clutch go-ahead two-run single to left to bring in pinch-runner Keano Suarez as well as Neri to give UCF the late 6-4 advantage.
With two outs and the bases full, Mikey Kluska drives two runs home with a clutch go-ahead two-run single!!!
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 5, 2024
UCF 6, UH 4 | M8 pic.twitter.com/4BFuYQK3j6
UH then got a one-out double from Alex Lopez in the bottom of the eighth to bring the tying run to the plate. The right-hander Sosnowski then came on from the bullpen for the Knights and responded by retiring the first two batters he faced via pop outs to send it to the ninth. In the last of the ninth, Sosnowski then struck out the first batter he faced and retired the second via a groundout. Houston’s Cary Arbolida looked to make things interesting with a two-out double, but Sosnowski finished things off by drawing a game-ending groundout off the bat of Jacob Schoenvogel to record his second save of the season.
Stagliano had a strong start for the Black and Gold as he gave up just one hit and three runs while tying a season-high with seven strikeouts. Kramer followed by surrendering just one run on two hits while fanning three over an inning and two-thirds to earn his team-high sixth victory of the season (6-3). The redshirt sophomore Sosnowski then tossed the final inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief to earn his second career save.
Stagliano picks up K number five, as he's held the Cougars scoreless through five innings of work❗
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 5, 2024
UCF 2, UH 0 | E5 pic.twitter.com/yVlpODAwha
"We had big hits, and big-time at-bats in big moments. The pitching was also solid besides that one mistake. But overall I thought that we did amazing," Sosnowski said. "It was a great time win."
Kluska led the offense by going 2-for-4 with three runs batted in. Calabro and Lex Boedicker too had two-hit games, as Calabro went 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI and Boedicker went 2-for-5. Prevesk and Neri each scored two runs apiece in the contest. Coll paced the Cougars by going 1-for-4 with a grand slam.
The Knights will go for their first Big 12 Conference sweep of the season on Sunday. The third and final game of the series will take place Sunday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. The Knights will then return home to open their final homestand of the season on Wednesday against North Florida. Following Wednesday’s midweek, the Black and Gold will welcome Texas to town for the first time in program history for their final home Big 12 series of the season next weekend.