Baseball Drops Series Finale to Bryant, 5-3Baseball Drops Series Finale to Bryant, 5-3

Baseball Drops Series Finale to Bryant, 5-3

by James Warnick
Box Score

ORLANDO – UCF baseball pulled within a run in the middle innings and later made things interesting with a two-out rally in the eighth, but Bryant held on to claim Sunday’s series finale by a score of 5-3 to salvage a game on the weekend.

Despite dropping the contest, the Knights (6-1) took two of the three games to win their second consecutive series on the season.

“We just didn’t execute offensively. The quality of at-bat for the first four innings was not up to par with what I expect from our guys,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “I was pleased with how our guys came in from the bullpen, however, but we’ve got to play a bit cleaner defensively.”

The Bulldogs (2-3) jumped out to an early advantage by manufacturing a run in the second inning and another in the third to take a 2-0 lead.

UCF starter Grant Siegel responded, however, by retiring the Bulldogs in order in the fourth. But Bryant countered back with a run on a squeeze bunt in the top of the fifth to make it 3-0.

The Knights then got things going in the last of the fifth by scoring a pair of runs to make it a 3-2 contest. Chase Krewson singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and later came in to score on an RBI single from Antonio Jimenez for the first run. The Black and Gold then loaded the bases with two away and Bryant’s Jared Burrows committed a balk to bring in Jimenez and make it a one run ballgame.

The Bulldogs later added to their lead with an unearned run in the seventh and another run in the eighth to extend their lead to 5-2.

The Knights looked to stage a comeback in the bottom of the eighth, as they pieced together a two-out rally, but it ended up falling short. With two outs and nobody on in the frame, Lex Boedicker beat out an infield hit to start things off. Edian Espinal followed with a single through the left side to put runners on first and second. UCF then sent pinch-hitter Andrew Sundean to the plate and the senior delivered a two-out RBI single to right field to bring in Boedicker and move Espinal to third. Krewson then followed by hitting a ball sharply up the middle, but Bryant’s shortstop Zac Lyons was shifted in that area and able to make the play for the final out of the frame.

Following a scoreless top of the ninth inning tossed by UCF reliever Isaac Williams, the Knights then sent Jimenez, Kendrey Maduro and DeAmez Ross to the plate in hopes of some heroics. But Bryant reliever Liam Chamberlain managed to retire the Black and Gold in order to record his first save of the year.

Krewson led the Knights offensively by going 2-for-3 with a run scored while Jimenez and Sundean each recorded a hit and drove in a run. Charlie Saul and Shea Grady led the Bulldogs by tallying two hits apiece as well as each driving in a run.

UCF starter Grant Siegel was tagged with his first loss of the season to fall to 1-1. Bryant’s Brooks Ey earned the win in relief for the Bulldogs to move to 1-0. A total of five relievers for the Black and Gold combined to allow just one earned run (two total) on four hits while striking out six over the final 4.2 innings of the contest.  

Bryant was picked to win the America East Conference again this season after winning both the regular-season and tournament titles a year ago. The Bulldogs had their 2024 campaign come to a close with a trip to the NCAA Raleigh Regional.

The Knights will close a season-opening eight-game homestand on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against in-state foe Florida Atlantic. Following Tuesday’s midweek, the Black and Gold will head to Tampa to face a familiar foe for a three-game weekend series from Friday to Sunday at South Florida.