Baseball Blows Out No. 6 Florida in Front of Historic CrowdBaseball Blows Out No. 6 Florida in Front of Historic Crowd

Baseball Blows Out No. 6 Florida in Front of Historic Crowd

by Nick Porcelli
Box Score

ORLANDO – UCF baseball defeated the No. 6 Florida Gators 13-3 on Tuesday night at John Euliano Park to mark the Knights' largest margin of victory over Florida. It also resulted in the Black and Gold’s sixth straight win over the Gators and happened in front of a crowd of 4,204 fans, the second-largest home crowd in program history.

“You could feel it in the dugout,” head coach Rich Wallace said. “I told them just go there and focus and play. Find a way to get the crowd into it.”

It didn’t take long for the Black and Gold to get on the board. In the bottom of the first, Andrew Williamson belted out a two-run home run to the opposite field to give the Knights a 2-0 lead. The homer marked Williamson’s team-leading fourth of the season and the second year in a row that he hit out a first-inning home run against the Gators.

Florida would tie it in the next inning, but the Knights would regain the lead in the fourth. In the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, UCF would score a combined eight runs. The spurt started with an RBI single hit by Braden Calise in the bottom of the fourth. Edian Espinal would then hit out a three-run home run to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning, marking his second game in a row with a home run.

The Black and Gold’s largest offensive outburst would come in the sixth, with the team scoring four runs. It started with Dylan King drawing a bases-loaded walk to plate a run. DeAmez Ross followed with a two-run single and Espinal capped the inning with an RBI double to give UCF double-digit runs.

The Knights would tack on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth thanks to an RBI single from Ross, King coming home to score on a groundout and an RBI single from Lex Boedicker.

The Black and Gold would score 11 unanswered runs on the night with seven players combining for 13 hits. Four of the seven had multiple hits, and six had at least one RBI. Boedicker led the way by going 4-for-5 at the plate with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. Espinal was next by going 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, four runs batted in, and two runs scored. Ross also had a big night by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. For Espinal, this marked his fourth multi-hit performance in the last five games.

“It feels great,” Espinal said. “I’ve just been really trusting my process and routines. I’ve been trying to play like it’s another game and keep doing my thing.

As for the pitching, four pitchers combined to limit the No. 6 team in the country to just two runs on seven hits while striking out 10 batters. Earning the win was Dominic Castellano, bringing his record to 2-0. After coming into the game in the top of the second, Castellano would pitch 3.2 innings of scoreless relief in which he gave up just one hit while striking out three batters. He was brought in to relive the game’s starter Angelo Smith, who started the game with a clean inning and finished with a strikeout.

Reliving Castellano was Alex Galvan, who had a stellar relief outing for the Knights. Galvan would pitch 3.0 scoreless innings and surrender just a single hit. Most notably, he struck out five straight batters during one stretch, including striking out the side in the top of the sixth.

“As a team, we really had to come out and send a message.” Galvan said.

Isaac Williams was brought in to close the game for the Black and Gold. After giving up a solo home run, he would quickly respond by striking out the next batter before forcing the final two outs to secure the win over the Gators.

UCF has now won its last three games by 10 or more runs, having scored a combined 37 runs over the last four days. The team also earned its first home win over a ranked opponent since its 5-4 win over No. 18 Texas on May 11 last season.

The Knights will be back at John Euliano Park on Friday for the first of a three-game series against Monmouth. The first pitch for game one is scheduled for 6 p.m. After the series against Bryant, the Knights will concluded a five-game homestand on Tuesday against Miami before traveling to Provo, Utah to start Big 12 Conference play in a three-game series at BYU next week.

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