Baseball Homers Five Times En Route to Sweeping Siena on Opening WeekendBaseball Homers Five Times En Route to Sweeping Siena on Opening Weekend

Baseball Homers Five Times En Route to Sweeping Siena on Opening Weekend

by James Warnick
Box Score

ORLANDO – Matt Prevesk homered twice, and UCF baseball belted out five home runs on the day en route to defeating Siena 16-1 on Sunday afternoon at John Euliano Park.

With the win, the Black and Gold (3-0) swept the opening series and outscored the Saints 40-5 over the three games. UCF has now defeated Siena 32 consecutive times and holds a 70-4 all-time series record against the Saints.

“We kind of saw everything show up in this one. We stole a couple of bases, the bunt game was there, had some solid two-out hitting, and it was nice to see the long ball get going,” head coach Rich Wallace said.

The Black and Gold got off to a quick start offensively in the first by loading the bases on back-to-back-to-back singles from the first three batters. Following a double play, senior Matt Prevesk drove in a pair of runs with a two-run single to left to give the Knights an early 2-0 advantage.

Holding to the 2-0 lead in the third, Prevesk again jolted the UCF offense with a two-run home run to right field to extend the lead to 4-0. The homer marked the team’s first of the season.

UCF added to its lead in the fourth thanks to a solo home run to center field off the bat of Kendrey Maduro. It marked Maduro’s first as a Knight and his first at the Division I level.

The Black and Gold then posted a crooked number in the fifth with six more runs to make it 11-0. Lex Boedicker started things off with a solo home run to right and Prevesk promptly followed by going back-to-back with a home run of his own to right center. It marked the first time UCF has hit back-to-back jacks since April 21 of last year when Prevesk and former Knight slugger Jack Zyska achieved the feat against Central Michigan. It also marked the first two-homer game of Prevesk’s career.

A couple of batters later, Antonio Jimenez drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and DeAmez Ross followed with a two-run single to right. Ross then capped the scoring in the frame by coming home on a balk.

The Saints got their lone run of the game in the top of the sixth on a solo homer from Nick Bergamotto to make it 11-1. The Knights quickly responded, however, in the bottom of the frame with a three-run blast from Dylan King to make it 14-1. The long ball marked King’s first collegiate home run.

The UCF offense then capped the scoring in the seventh thanks to a two-run single from Jimenez.

The senior Prevesk led the way in the contest by going 3-for-6 with two home runs, five RBIs and two runs scored. Jimenez and King followed by each driving in three runs on the day and Calise and Ross each continued to swing a hot bat on the young season by tallying three hits apiece.

On the mound, redshirt junior Grant Siegel made his first start as a Knight and had a solid showing. The right-hander allowed just two hits while striking out four over 5.0 innings to earn his first victory in a UCF uniform. Dakota Stone, Kris Sosnowski, Alex Galvan and Isaac Williams then followed in relief and combined to surrender just one run on six hits while striking out three over the final 4.0 innings.

The UCF bullpen shined all weekend long, as 10 pitchers combined allow just one run and six hits over 13.1 innings. Over the three games, the Black and Gold relievers struck out 18 batters while walking just two and limited the Siena hitters to just a .133 average. In all, the UCF pitching staff allowed just four earned runs over 27.0 innings. The staff also struck out 28 batters in total and limited the Saints to just a .177 average.

The series sweep marked UCF’s first three-game sweep since Feb. 23-25, 2024 when it claimed all three games at home from Samford.

“It feels good to get the sweep. We had a hard time getting things going last season due to rain early in the year and we were fortunate that we were able to get this one in before the rain today,” Prevesk said. “I feel like we were able to showcase the depth of our lineup as well as the depth of our bullpen and we’re looking forward to next week.”

The Knights will continue their early season homestand by hosting SEC foe Missouri on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at John Euliano Park. Following Wednesday's midweek, the Black and Gold will then welcome Bryant to town for a three-game series.