Baseball Pushes Streak to Eight with Wild 9-8 Victory over BYUBaseball Pushes Streak to Eight with Wild 9-8 Victory over BYU

Baseball Pushes Streak to Eight with Wild 9-8 Victory over BYU

by James Warnick
Box Score

PROVO, Utah – DeAmez Ross and Edian Espinal hit out back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning and Braden Calise drove home what proved to be the winning run later that frame to lead UCF to a wild 9-8 victory over BYU in cold and rainy weather in the Big 12 opener for both teams.

The win pushes UCF’s (14-3, 1-0 Big 12) streak to eight, as it hasn’t lost a game since Feb. 28 against South Florida. The eight-game winning streak marks the Black and Gold’s longest streak since 2018 when it won 13 consecutive games.

Trailing 8-5 entering the eighth inning, the Black and Gold took advantage of the windy weather with back-to-back home runs to tie the game. With Dylan King on first after getting hit by a pitch, Ross lifted a ball to deep left that cleared the wall for a two-run home run—his first as a Knight—to make it a one-run game. Espinal immediately followed with a solo home run down the leftfield line to tie that game at 8-8. The round tripper marked Espinal’s third of the season.

Following a 30-minute lightning delay, Andrew Williamson quickly doubled and later scored on a clutch go-ahead two-out RBI single up the middle from Calise to give the Black and Gold a 9-8 lead.

Alex Galvan then came on and retired the Cougars (10-6, 0-1 Big 12) in order in the eighth. He then pitched around a pair of walks and induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to close things out and earn his first save of the season.

“Obviously, the elements—you’re hoping they don’t play a part—with the lightning delay, as well as the rain and cold weather all on the road. But to survive all that and have to really grind it out against a good BYU team at the end, I couldn’t ask for more from the guys,” head coach Rich Wallace said.

UCF managed to strike first by piecing together a two-out rally in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 advantage. Following a two-out walk from Williamson, Matt Prevesk pulled a triple down the rightfield line to make it 1-0. Lex Boedicker then drove the next pitch up the middle for an RBI single to give the Knights an early two-run lead.

After a pair of scoreless innings from starter Kris Sosnowski, the Cougars managed to get something going in the last of the third to tie the game. BYU loaded the bases and pushed a run across on a wild pitch and another on a sacrifice fly.

Brigham Young then took a 3-2 lead on an RBI single from Tate Gambill and extended its advantage to 5-2 with two more runs in the fourth. Ryder Robinson had the big hit of the inning with an RBI triple.

Down 5-2 in the seventh, the UCF offense responded with three runs in the top of the frame to tie the game at 5-5. With two on and nobody out, Williamson singled to center and both Ross and Espinal came in to score thanks to an error by the Cougar centerfielder. Prevesk then followed with an RBI single to bring in Williamson and deadlock the score.

With Dominic Castellano on the mound for the Knights in the last of the seventh and the weather getting worse, BYU worked a pair of walks to put two on with two away. Brigham Young’s Cooper Vest then lifted a ball to left and it managed to clear the wall for a wind-aided go-ahead three-run home run to BYU an 8-5 advantage at the time. But UCF would respond, however, with four runs in the eighth to claim the conference opener.

Williamson led the Knights at the plate by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, three runs scored and an RBI. Prevesk was next by going 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs batted in, and a run scored, while Ross and Espinal each homered, had two hits and scored two runs. In all, UCF recorded 15 hits on the day as it upped its nation-leading team batting average to .364.

On the mound, Castellano earned the win in relief to move to 4-0 on the year, while Galvan pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth frame to record his first save in a UCF uniform. In all, four Black and Gold pitchers combined to strikeout 11 Cougar batters on the day.

“Galvan was outstanding. You couldn’t have had tougher elements to pitch and play defense than there in the bottom of the ninth,” Wallace added.

The contest marked UCF’s first-ever ballgame in the state of Utah.

The Knights and Cougars will continue the weekend series on Friday at 5 p.m. ET/3 p.m. MT. The opening Big 12 series for both teams will then conclude on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET/1 p.m. MT. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+. Following Saturday's finale, UCF will return to the Sunshine State for a midweek contest at Stetson on Tuesday night.