ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team will open a four-game road stretch with a midweek contest at Jacksonville on Tuesday night at John Sessions Stadium.
The in-state contest is set for a 7 p.m. start and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats can also be followed for the ballgame by visiting JUDolphins.com.
The Knights will enter the ballgame with a 17-6 overall record and a 3-3 Big 12 Conference clip. The Black and Gold are currently receiving votes for this week’s NCBWA Top 25 Poll after going 2-2 last week with a win over Stetson in DeLand before dropping two of three to conference foe Houston at home over the weekend. Despite going 2-2 a week ago, UCF has won 11 of its last 14 contests.
In Friday’s opener against Houston, the Knights held a 5-0 lead early in the game but UH responded with seven unanswered runs to take the series opener, 7-5. UCF looked to overcome the deficit in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases with one away, but Houston reliever Antoine Jean finished off a five-inning save by striking out back-to-back batters to end the ballgame.
The Black and Gold then responded by taking game two by a score of 7-1 to force a rubber match on Sunday. In Saturday’s contest, four UCF pitchers combined to lime the Cougars to just one run and the Knights put the game away with five runs in the eighth inning.
Holding to a 2-1 advantage for the majority of the game, Dylan King gave the Black and Gold a little breathing room by driving in a run in the last of the eighth via an RBI groundout. DeAmez Ross followed with a two-run single with two outs and Edian Espinal capped the scoring with a two-run double. UH then looked to make things interesting by loading the bases with two away in the ninth, but Kevin Schoneboom came on and struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches to seal the victory.
Espinal led the Knights in Saturday’s win by going 2-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in while Lex Boedicker went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Ross and Antonio Jimenez also had big performances by driving in two runs apiece. Wiley Hartley, Russell Sandefer, Alex Galvan and Schoneboom limited the Cougars to just one run in the ballgame.
In Sunday’s rubber match, UCF tied it in the third at 2-2 and again in the sixth at 4-4, but UH managed to score three runs in the seventh to pull out the finale by a score of 7-4.
Andrew Williamson led the Knights at the plate by going 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Ross and Kendrey Maduro also drove in runs in the contest. Carter Stanford led the way from the mound by tossing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief over the last couple of innings.
Jimenez led the Black and Gold at the plate in the Houston series by hitting .400 with a triple, three RBIs and two runs scored. Espinal was next by hitting .357 with two doubles, two runs scored, two runs batted in and two stolen bases. Hartley led the way on the mound by going 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA and five strikeouts over 5.0 innings, while Angelo Smith, Galvan, Stanford, Schoneboom and Sandefer led the way from the bullpen with scoreless relief work.
For the season, Espinal fronts the Knights with a .479 batting average, a .726 slugging percentage, .587 on-base clip, 28 runs scored and five stolen bases. Williamson is next with a .388 average and team-leading tallies of five home runs, 11 doubles and 28 RBIs and Ross follows by batting .367 with a team-best 36 hits. Hartley leads the way from the mound with a 4-0 record and 2.70 ERA, while Galvan holds a perfect 0.00 ERA over 13.2 innings of work and Dominic Castellano paces the team in strikeouts with 28 over 17.2 innings.
ONE OF THE NATION’S TOP HITTERS
Junior second baseman Edian Espinal is currently ranked fourth nationally in on-base percentage with a .587 clip and fifth in hitting with a .479 batting average. Over 73 at-bats on the year, Espinal has 35 hits with four homers, six doubles and 11 walks. He has red-hot since his pinch-hit walk-off hit in game one against Bryant and currently leads the team in multi-hit games with 13. He’ll also enter Tuesday on a 14-game hitting streak and a 21-game reached base safely streak.
HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS
As a team, the Knights currently hold the third-best team batting average in the nation with a .338 average. UCF currently has eight players with 10 or more at-bats hitting above .300 and three batting over .375 in Espinal (.479), Williamson (.388) and Aris Rivera (.385). Richmond of the Atlantic 10 is the current national leader in batting average with a .340 average.
ABOUT JACKSONVILLE
The Dolphins currently hold an overall record of 12-11 and a 3-3 Atlantic Sun Conference clip. The team is coming off a series loss to Stetson in which they fell in the final two games, including a 11-1 loss in the final game on Sunday. Jacksonville finished its 2024 campaign with a 27-31 record and a 19-12 conference record, which was good enough to finish fifth in the ASUN standings. JU’s season came to an end in the conference tournament, in which they went 2-2. The Dolphins were picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Sun this season.
Jacksonville is led by Jonah Shields offensively, as he holds a .383 average, a team-best 31 hits and 17 RBIs. Jaden Bastian is also a key contributor, as so far this season he has put up a .337 average, 20 RBIs, a team-leading tallies of 13 stolen bases and four home runs. Blake DeLamielleure leads the team in RBIs with 22. Richard Long is the team’s top starting pitcher with a 4-2 record and 2.06 ERA, while reviler Nick Anello fronts the squad with a 0.75 ERA and in saves with six.
JU is coached by Chris Hayes who is in his ninth year at the helm of the Dolphins.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. JACKSONVILLE
Tuesday’s contest will mark the 94th all-time meeting between the Knights and Dolphins. UCF will enter holding to a 51-42 series advantage and a 24-22 advantage with games played in Jacksonville. UCF has won four of the last six meetings including a 6-0 win at JU last year. In last year’s meeting, former Knight Cade Boxrucker finished one out shy of a no-hitter. The Dolphins managed to break it up with two outs in the ninth, but Spencer Bauer came on and promptly retired the first man he faced to record a one-hit combined shutout.
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 105.0 innings, in which they have put together an ERA of 2.74, an 8-4 record and allowed only 81 hits and 32 earned runs while striking out 130 batters. Four pitchers—Kris Sosnowski, Alex Galvan, Mateo Gray and Matt Sauser—currently have an ERA of zero. Dominic Castellano leads the way in wins (5-1) and strikeouts (28) while Galvan, Russell Sandefer and Angelo Smith are tied atop the team in saves as they each have one.
SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
UCF defeated 2024 NCAA Tallahassee Regional foe Stetson 3-0 for its fifth win on the year over Sunshine State foes. The win continued the trend of the Knights having success against in-state opponents in the Wallace era. The win moved Wallace to 19-6 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 5-2 against Florida teams. Those wins include two victories to earn the series win over USF and 10-run victories over both Florida and Miami.
ON DECK
The Knights will next head to the Queen City to face the Cincinnati Bearcats in a three-game Big 12 series this weekend. The series will run Friday to Sunday at UC Baseball Stadium. Friday’s opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and all three games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Onto the next 🚌 pic.twitter.com/i7BOVIrAbI
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 24, 2025