ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team will open a four-game homestand on Tuesday evening against in-state foe Stetson.
The Sunshine State contest will begin at 6 p.m. at John Euliano Park and will air live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available for the game by visiting UCF.Statbroadcast.com.
The Knights will enter Tuesday’s midweek having dropped five straight contests after falling in a trio of tightly contested Big 12 contests over the weekend at Cincinnati. UCF is currently 17-10 overall and 3-6 in Big 12 play and currently receiving votes for this week’s NCBWA Top 25 Poll.
After falling in the series finale against Houston and dropping a midweek at Jacksonville last Tuesday, 3-2, the Black and Gold then headed to Cincinnati for a three-game league series against the Bearcats. In three back and forth games, UC pulled out Friday’s opener, 6-4, before claiming a 7-6 10-inning game on Saturday to clinch the series. The Knights then held a late 7-5 lead in Sunday’s finale, but the Bearcats responded with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie and added three runs in the eighth to record the three-game sweep.
UCF jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in Friday’s series opener, but Cincinnati responded with six unanswered runs to take the ballgame. Trailing 6-3 in the ninth, the Black and Gold picked up a run on an RBI single from Lex Boedicker and had the bases loaded with Braden Calise at the plate. Calise then smoked a ball to the right side of the infield but UC’s Lauden Brooks managed to make a full extension diving stop to his left at second base and threw out Calise by a step at first to lock up the win.
The Knights looked to bounce back on Saturday, as they took a 5-3 lead in the fifth thanks to a go-ahead two-run home run from Antonio Jimenez. But back answered the Bearcats with two runs in the seventh to send it to extra innings. The Black and Gold then took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th, as Andrew Williamson doubled and came in to score on a sacrifice fly from Kendrey Maduro. UC would answer once again, however, by loading the bases in the bottom of the frame and Landyn Vidourek delivered a two-out two-run walk-off single to propel Cincinnati to a 7-6 win.
In Sunday’s finale, UCF got a three-run homer from Williamson in the fifth to tie the game and a go-ahead two-run round tripper from Dylan King in the seventh to give the Black and Gold a 7-5 advantage at the time. The Bearcats again countered late with two runs in the last of the seventh to tie it and added three runs in the eighth inning to pull out a 10-7 victory.
Despite dropping the three games, DeAmez Ross had a big series for the Knights by hitting .571 from the leadoff spot (8-for-14) with four runs scored. He also upped his hitting streak to 18 games and his reached base safely streak to 22 games. Boedicker too had a big series by batting .545 with three doubles and two runs batted in, while Williamson hit .385 with two home runs and six RBIs. Williamson and Edian Espinal also extended their reached base safely streaks to a team-best 25 games on Sunday.
Espinal paces UCF on the season with a .443 batting average, 30 runs scored, six stolen bases and a .550 on-base percentage. Ross is next with a .388 average and 45 hits, while Williamson follows with a .373 clip and leads the way in the power numbers with 13 doubles, seven homers and 34 RBIs. Senior right-hander Wiley Hartley is the team’s top starting pitcher with a 4-0 record, 3.15 ERA. Alex Galvan is one of the top arms from the bullpen with a 0-0 record and 0.61 ERA over 14.2 innings, while left-hander Dominic Castellano paces the team in strikeouts with 30 in 21.2 innings.
HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS
As a team, the Knights currently hold the ninth-best team batting average in the nation with a .329 average. UCF currently has six players with 10 or more at-bats hitting above .300 and three batting over .370 in Edian Espinal (.443), DeAmez Ross (.388) and Andrew Williamson (.373).
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 126.2 innings, in which they have put together an ERA of 3.13, and allowed only 89 hits and 44 earned runs while striking out 134 batters. Four pitchers—Kris Sosnowski, Mateo Gray and Matt Sauser—currently have an ERA of zero. Dominic Castellano leads the way in wins (5-1) and strikeouts (30) while Alex Galvan, Russell Sandefer and Angelo Smith are tied atop the team in saves as they each have one.
ABOUT STETSON
Stetson enters the matchup with a 17-12 overall record and currently ranks first within the Graphite Division of the ASUN Conference with a 7-2 league record. The Hatters have won three of their last five, taking two of three over FGCU in their last series and splitting a two-game series with USC Upstate. Stetson scored a total of 43 runs within these five games.
In 2024 the Hatters finished their season with a 41-22 record, punching their ticket to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Stetson would compete against UCF, Alabama and Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional. The Hatters lost 7-2 to FSU before bouncing back with a 4-0 victory over the Crimson Tide. In their third game of the tournament, the Knights pulled out a 5-2 victory over Stetson. Going into the bottom of the seventh, the Hatters held a 2-1 lead over the Black and Gold. Andrew Sundean tied the game with a double and Jack Zyska followed with a two-run homer, giving the Knights a two-run advantage. Braden Calise tacked on some insurance with a home run of his own and the game ended 5-2 in UCF’s favor, knocking Stetson out of the tournament.
The Hatters were picked to finish first in the ASUN according to the 2025 ASUN Preseason Coaches’ Poll. They are led by head coach Steve Trimper, who is in his ninth season as skipper of Stetson’s baseball program.
Shortstop Lorenzo Meola received 2025 Preseason All-ASUN honors and currently leads his team in runs (28), RBIs (24) and home runs (5). Isaiah Barkett was also tabbed to the 2025 Preseason All-ASUN team and is batting .380 on the season. Left-hander Jonathan Gonzalez has pitched a total of 43.1 innings, 18.2 innings more than any other Hatter. In 43.1 innings, Gonzalez has notched a 2.49 ERA with 44 strikeouts. Bullpen arm Ty VanDyke has been steady all season long for the Hatters. The righty has made 11 appearances out of the bullpen, limiting opposing batters to a .178 average and compiling a 1.35 ERA.
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY VS. STETSON
The Black and Gold hold a commanding 80-52 lead over the Hatters in the all-time series. UCF also holds a 38-22 mark in Orlando and has won six of the last seven meetings.
The contest on Tuesday night will be the second and final meeting on the season between the two. Game one took place on March 18, in DeLand, in which the UCF shutout Stetson 3-0. Grant Siegel got into an early jam in the bottom of the first, but he pitched out of it. From then on Siegel would retire 13 straight batters. The game was at a scoreless standstill going into the fifth. A single by Kendrey Maduro and a double by Dylan King would put runners in scoring position with nobody out. Krewson put the first run on the board by scoring Maduro with a one-out groundout to the right side of the infield. In the seventh, Edian Espinal tacked on some insurance for the Knights, ripping a single to right field, scoring Antonio Jimenez and Krewson to give the Black and Gold a 3-0 advantage. Kevin Schoneboom and Russell Sandefer combined for 4.0 innings out of the bullpen. Both pitchers limited opposing batters to just three hits and Sandefer recorded two strikeouts to earn the save.
SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
Under head coach Rich Wallace, the Black and Gold have had success against in-state opponents. Under Wallace, UCF is 19-7 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.
This season UCF is 5-3 against in-state opponents. Those wins include two victories to earn a series win over USF, a 13-3 win over No. 6 Florida and a 14-4 victory over Miami. 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. Another one of those wins came in DeLand, when the Knights shut out the Hatters at home.
GETTIN’ WINS
Senior pitcher Dominic Castellano has been one of the standouts of the Knights’ pitching staff this season. He currently leads the team in wins with five, which is good enough for the eighth-most wins by a pitcher in the country.
THROWING SOME HEAT
The Knights’ pitching staff has started the season hot. The team’s performance on the mound performance has made it one of the top statistical performing staffs in the country. The team currently has the 10th-best ERA in the country with a 3.64 average and the nation’s No. 14 WHIP with a 1.26 average.
ON DECK
Following Tuesday’s ballgame, the Knights will remain home to host Kansas in a three-game league series this weekend. Friday and Saturday’s games are scheduled for 6 p.m. while Sunday’s finale is set for 1 p.m.
Back at JEP Tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/EpJwd0S2ht
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 31, 2025