ORLANDO – Currently in a six-game winning streak, the UCF baseball team will welcome the Miami Hurricanes to John Euliano Park for a Tuesday midweek.
The Sunshine State showdown will begin at 6 p.m. and will mark the Black and Gold’s final contest of a current five-game homestand. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available by visiting UCF.Statbroadcast.com.
UCF will enter the ballgame with a 12-3 record and currently receiving votes for both the USA TODAY Coaches and NCBWA Top 25 polls this week. The Knights went a perfect 4-0 last week with a win over No. 6 Florida followed by a three-game sweep of Monmouth. During the Black and Gold’s current six-game win streak, UCF has scored an impressive tally of 80 runs. The Knights hold a plus-70 run differential during the spurt, as they have outscored the opposition by a whopping 80-10.
In Friday’s opener against Monmouth, the Black and Gold scored early and often en route to defeating the Hawks 17-1. The Knights hit out a trio of three-run home runs in the game and posted a crooked number in both the first and fifth innings. Lex Boedicker and Dylan King both smacked out three-run homers in the first and Andrew Williamson belted out one in the fifth to lead the Knights to the opening victory.
Eleven different Knights recorded hits in Friday’s contest and Williamson led the way by finishing a triple shy of the cycle by going 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
The UCF offense wasn’t done on Saturday, as it scored a season-high 18 runs to top Monmouth 18-3. Holding to a 4-1 lead in the sixth, the Black and Gold scored seven runs that inning and Boedicker delivered the big blow with his second three-run round tripper in as many days. The Knights scored in each of the final six innings of the contest.
Matt Prevesk and Braden Calise led the way with three hits apiece and 10 players in all had hits in the game.
On Sunday, Dom Stagliano pitched six strong innings en route to leading UCF to an 8-0 shutout to record the sweep. He allowed just four hits and no runs while striking out four. He also faced the minimum in the three of the six innings and had two stretches in which he retired eight consecutive batters.
Edian Espinal led the way offensively by going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. King belted out his second homer of the series in the eighth inning to mark eight straight games that UCF has homered in.
Espinal led the Knights over four games last week by hitting an even .600 (9-for-15) with two doubles, a home run, seven RBIs and eight runs scored. He also stole three bags and posted an impressive 1.633 OPS. Williamson was next by batting .500 with two homers, a double, six runs scored and a team-high nine RBIs.
On the season, Espinal leads UCF with a stellar .553 batting average and team-leading 19 runs scored. Williamson is next with a .393 average and team-leading tallies of six doubles, five homers, and 22 runs batted in. The Knights currently have 10 players hitting .300 or better that have 10 or more at-bats on the year. On the mound, Wiley Hartley leads the way with a 3-0 record, 1.25 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 21.2 innings, while Alex Galvan is a key arm from the bullpen with a perfect 0.00 ERA and 16 strikeouts over 8.0 innings.
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHERS FOR TUESDAY
Redshirt junior right-hander Grant Siegel will make his first midweek start of the season and his fourth overall on Tuesday against Miami. Siegel will enter the game with a 1-1 record and a 3.46 ERA. He has also struck out eight batters over 13.0 innings of work and allowed just five runs. He will face Miami RHP Alex Giroux. Giroux will enter with a 2-0 record and a 3.00 ERA. Tuesday’s will mark Giroux’s third start of the year.
HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS
UCF will enter the week with an impressive team batting average of .356. This is the highest team batting average in the nation. Edian Espinal leads the way as he currently ranks second in the country in batting with a .553 clip and tops the country in on-base percentage with a .667 mark. In all, UCF currently has 10 players with at least 10 at-bats batting over .300.
ABOUT MIAMI
The Hurricanes will come to town with a 12-5 record and having won four of their last six ballgames. After defeating Florida, FIU and Villanova, Miami then dropped two of three to UConn at home over the weekend. After falling on both Friday (7-2) and Saturday (12-8), the Hurricanes responded with a 15-11 win on Sunday to salvage a game on the weekend. Miami was picked to finish 11th in the ACC this season after going 26-30 overall last year and placing sixth in the ACC’s Coastal Division with an 11-19 league record.
Jake Ogden leads Miami on the season with a .424 average, seven extra-base hits, 21 runs scored and 18 RBIs. Tanner Smith is next with a .319 clip. Daniel Cuvet leads the team in homers with four while Bobby Marsh it tops in RBIs with 24. Griffin Hugus paces the Hurricanes’ starting rotation with a 2-2 record, 3.74 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 21.2 innings. Reese Lumpkin leads from the bullpen with a 2-0 record, 1.88 ERA and 17 punchouts in 14.1 innings.
Miami is coached by second-year head man J.D. Arteaga. Arteaga will enter Tuesday with a 39-35 career record.
SERIES HISTORY VS. MIAMI
Tuesday’s contest will mark the 44th all-time meeting between the Knights and Hurricanes. Miami will enter play holding to a 31-12 all-time series advantage, but UCF topped the Hurricanes 4-3 in Coral Gables last season. Tuesday will mark just the 11th meeting in Orlando with Miami leading 8-2.
SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
UCF defeated the No. 6 Florida Gators by the score of 13-3 on March 4. This was the second year in a row that the Knights under head coach Rich Wallace have knocked off the Gators, as well as the sixth overall straight victory over the Gators.
The win continued the trend of the Knights having success against in-state opponents in the Wallace era. The win moved Wallace to 17-6 in games against teams from the state of Florida. Wallace’s 2024 squad went 14-4, which included beating the then ranked No. 4 Florida in Gainesville, a series win over USF, and a win over Stetson in the Tallahassee Regional.
NO BETTER WAY TO GET YOUR FIRST
UCF’s Feb. 21 game against Bryant would result in a 7-6 win for the Knights thanks to the heroics of Edian Espinal. After being brought into the game in the bottom of the ninth as a pinch hitter and with his team down a run, Espinal made the most of his lone at-bat by blasting the ball into left field for a walk-off two-run single to give the Black and Gold the win. This hit gave Espinal, who transferred to UCF from the junior college Chipola before the season, his first RBIs as a Knight as well as at the NCAA Division I level.
Since this moment, Espinal has been on fire. He was elevated to the starting lineup in the Knights next game against Bryant and he hasn’t looked back since. In the 10 games he has played after hitting the walk off, he has recorded 36 plate appearances, 19 hits, a .528 batting average, a .778 slugging percentage, two home runs and 10 RBIs. He’s had eight multi-hit games and currently has had at least two hits for six games in a row. Some of best performances were when he went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs in the March 2 game against USF and when he went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs in the Black and Gold’s 13-3 win over No. 6 Florida. Currently, Espinal leads the nation in on-base percentage with .667 and his season batting average of .553 is the second highest in the NCAA.
BEWARE OF THE BULLPEN
The Knights’ bullpen has been red hot to start the season. So far, the group of 15 pitchers have pitched a combined 65.0 innings, in which they have put together an ERA of 1.94, a 5-1 record, only allowed 46 hits, 14 earned runs while striking out 91 batters. Seven pitchers (Kris Sosnowski, Alex Galvan, Russell Sandefer, James Lordi, Mateo Gray, Matt Sauser and Camden Wicker) currently have an ERA of zero. Dominic Castellano currently holds a 2-0 record, 1.50 ERA and has recorded 18 strikeouts in 12.0 innings to lead the way.
BIG WIN IN FRONT OF A BIG CROWD
UCF’s March 4 game against Florida had a lot of highlights. But one of the biggest was the size of the crowd. Knight Nation packed John Euliano Park that night to see the Knights defeat the No. 6 team in the country by the score of 13-3. The final attendance was totaled at 4,204, the second largest home crowd in program history. This only ranked below the Knights’ March 3, 2015, contest against Florida, in which the Black and Gold Defeated the then-ranked No. 2 Gators 4-3 in front of 4,319 fans.
ON DECK
UCF will next head to Provo, Utah, to open its second season of Big 12 Conference competition at BYU. The series will run Thursday to Saturday at BYU’s Miller Park. Thursday’s series opener is set for 4 p.m. ET/2 p.m. MT and all three games will air live on ESPN+. The series will mark the Black and Gold’s inaugural trip to the Beehive State.
Keep it rollin’ 🔥🔥
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 10, 2025
Your Knights are leading the nation in team batting average with .356😮💨 pic.twitter.com/F6f4k2uUcw