PROVO, Utah – In the midst of a seven-game winning streak, the UCF baseball team will head to Provo, Utah, to open its second season of Big 12 Conference competition with a three-game series at BYU.
The conference-opening series will run Thursday to Saturday at BYU’s Miller Park. Thursday’s opener is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET/2 p.m. MT, while Friday is slated to begin at 5 p.m. ET/3 p.m. MT and Saturday’s finale is set for a 3 p.m. ET/1 p.m. MT start. All three games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available by visiting UCF.Statbroadcast.com.
The Knights will enter the series with a 13-3 record and currently receiving votes for both the USA TODAY Coaches and NCBWA Top 25 polls. UCF has won seven in a row to match the longest winning streak in the Rich Wallace era, as the Black and Gold previously opened the 2024 campaign having won seven consecutive contests. During the Knights’ current seven game win streak, they have outscored the opposition by an impressive tally of 94-14. UCF has also outhit its opponents 107-45 during the stretch.
During the seven-game stretch, the Black and Gold have defeated rival South Florida twice (12-1 and 12-2), No. 6 Florida (13-3), swept Monmouth (17-1, 18-3, 8-0), as well as topped follow Sunshine State foe Miami (14-4).
In its most recent game against Miami at home on Tuesday, the UCF offense continued to produce as it totaled 14 runs and 18 hits en route to defeating the Hurricanes by a score of 14-4.
UCF scored a pair of runs in the first but back answered Miami with three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-2 advantage. The Black and Gold responded later that frame, however, with four runs in the bottom of the second and three more in the third to take a 9-3 lead. UCF then made it 11-3 in the fifth and Lex Boedicker delivered the big blow with a three-run home run to right field in the sixth to make it 14-4.
Six Knights pitchers combined to limit the Hurricanes to just four runs on seven hits. Southpaw reliever Dominic Castellano earned the win to move to 3-0 on the year after tossing a pair of scoreless innings in relief. Camden Wicker, Russell Sandefer, Isaac Williams and Carter Stanford then finished it off by tossing 6.0 combined innings without allowing an earned run.
Offensively, Boedicker led the way for UCF against Miami by going 4-for-6 with a homer, two runs scored and a single-game season-high six RBIs. DeAmez Ross was next by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored, while Andrew Williamson and Andrew Sundean had two hits apiece and each drove in three runs.
During UCF’s current seven-game win streak, Edian Espinal is leading the way by hitting .560 with 14 hits, 16 runs scored, 12 runs batted in, four extra-base hits and three stolen bases. Williamson is right behind him with a .545 average, three homers, three doubles, one triple, 16 RBIs, 12 runs scored and an 1.839 OPS, while Boedicker is batting .483 with team-leading tallies of four home runs, two triples and 21 RBIs over the seven games. Wiley Hartley is leading the way from the starting rotation during the streak with a 2-0 record and 1.54 ERA, while Castellano has fronted the bullpen with a 3-0 record, perfect 0.00 ERA as he hasn’t allowed a run and 12 strikeouts over 8.0 innings of work.
On the season, Espinal leads the Knights with a .524 batting average which is good enough to currently rank him second in the nation. He also leads the team in runs scored with 21 and also ranks second in the country in on-base percentage with a .643 clip. Wiliamson is next for UCF with a .407 average and team-leading tallies of seven doubles, five home runs, 25 RBIs and a .814 slugging percentage. Ross is right behind him with a .394 average while Boedicker is tied for the team-lead in round trippers with five. From the mound, Hartley leads the rotation with a 3-0 record and a 1.25 ERA while Castellano paces the ‘pen with a 3-0 clip, 1.29 ERA and a team-best 21 strikeouts in 14.0 innings.
HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS
UCF will enter the weekend with an impressive team batting average of .363. 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 .524 clip and is also second nationally in on-base percentage with a .643 mark. In all, UCF currently has 10 players with at least 10 at-bats batting over .300.
LOTS OF WINS, LOTS OF RUNS
UCF is currently on a seven-game winning streak, which matches the longest streak in the Rich Wallace Era. This streak began on March 1, in which the team defeated rival USF 12-1.
In those seven games, the Knights have won by a combined score of 94-14. The Black and Gold have scored 12 or more runs in six of the seven games. The team’s offensive performance peaked in its second of a three-game series against Monmouth, in which UCF scored 18 runs. The Knights 12-plus run streak ended the next day with its 8-0 win over Monmouth. During the streak, the Knights have also outhit the opposition 107-45.
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHERS FOR THE WEEKEND
Redshirt junior RHP Kris Sosnowski will make his second career start for UCF on Thursday night. The former reliever will enter play with a 2-0 record and a 0.75 ERA. Senior righty Wiley Hartley (3-0, 1.25 ERA) will get the nod on Friday and senior right-hander Dom Stagliano is scheduled to start on Saturday (1-1, 4.60 ERA). BYU will go with a trio of right-handers in Payton Gubler on Thursday (3-1, 2.62 ERA), Jaden Harris on Friday (1-0, 8.04 ERA) and Garrison Sumner (2-0, 7.27 ERA) on Saturday.
ABOUT BYU
BYU enters Big 12 play with a 10-5 record and is coming off a series victory over Stetson. The Hatters took game one of the series before the Cougars bounced back to win the final three games of the series, in which they outscored Stetson 22-11 in those final three games. BYU has an additional two series wins on the season, including a three-game sweep over its former West Coast Conference foe Gonzaga.
In 2024, BYU posted a 7-23 conference record and a 21-31 overall record, finishing 13th in the Big 12. The Cougars are predicted to finish 14th in the conference in 2025 according to the 2025 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll. BYU baseball is led by head coach Trent Pratt, who is in his fourth year as the team’s skipper.
Outfielders Cooper Vest, Luke Anderson and Crew McChesney currently combine for 52 RBIs on the season, with Vest leading the way with 18. McChesney is batting .387 while Anderson currently boasts a 1.126 OPS. Bullpen arm Hayden Coon leads the pitching staff with 1.00 ERA. Through four starts, right-hander Payton Gubler holds a 2.63 ERA, 3-1 record and 19 strikeouts through 24.0 innings pitched.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. BYU
The Black and Gold’s trip to Provo will be the first meeting between the two programs and marks UCF baseball’s inaugural visit to the Beehive State.
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 72 innings, in which they have put together an ERA of 1.75, a 6-1 record and allowed only 50 hits and 14 earned runs while striking out 99 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 3-0 record and has recorded 21 strikeouts in 14 innings.
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 11 games he has played after hitting the walk off, he has 20 hits, a .500 batting average, a .725 slugging percentage, a .608 on-base percentage, two home runs and 10 RBIs. He’s had eight multiple hit games and currently has had at least two hits in six games in a row. Some of his 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 has the second highest batting average (.524) and on-base percentage (.643) in the country.
SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
UCF defeated the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 14-4 for its fourth win on the year over in-state foes. This was the second year in a row the Knights under head coach Rich Wallace have defeated Miami.
The win continued the trend of the Knights having success against in-state opponents in the Wallace era. The win moved Wallace to 18-6 in games against teams from the state of Florida. Wallace’s 2024 squad went 14-4, which included beating the then-fourth ranked Florida in Gainesville, a series win over USF, and a win over Stetson in the Tallahassee Regional.
This season UCF is 4-2 against Florida teams. Those wins include two wins to earn the series win over USF and 10-run victories over both Florida and Miami.
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
Following this weekend’s series, UCF will return to the Sunshine State for a Tuesday midweek at Stetson. The Knights will then host Houston for its first home Big 12 series of the season next weekend.
Moving onto BIG things 🔜 pic.twitter.com/sXGfV40CQw
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 12, 2025