ORLANDO – UCF baseball played the No. 15 TCU Horned Frogs competitive but ultimately fell by the score of 6-1 in the first of a three-game series on Thursday evening at John Euliano Park.
The Knights (20-17, 4-12 Big 12) lone run came in the bottom of the fourth, when Lex Boedicker hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Andrew Williamson to score. This cut the Horned Frogs’ (29-10, 12-4 Big 12) lead to 2-1. UCF would threaten to tie the game later in the frame, having runners on first and third with one out, but TCU starter Tommy LaPour managed to force a double play to end the inning.
The Black and Gold would threaten to score once again in the bottom of the bottom of the seventh. Andrew Sundean would reach first on an error before moving into scoring position with two outs thanks to a single hit by Kendrey Maduro. Unfortunately, a strikeout would prevent the Knights from scoring.
The Knights would record six hits on the evening. Two of those hits came from Antonio Jimenez, which extended his on-base streak to 19 games.
UCF starter Camden Wicker pitched for five solid innings, in which he retired the side in order of three of those innings and allowed just four hits and two runs. Another strong pitching performance came from freshman Mateo Gray, who was brought in to close out the game. In his lone inning he retired three of the four batters he faced, which included a strikeout.
Isacc Williams and Kevin Schoneboom also made appearances on the mound. The two threw for a combined three innings and struck out three batters.
TCU right-hander LaPour moved to 6-2 on the season after surrendering just one unearned runs on four hits while striking out four over 7.0 innings of work. UCF’s Wicker was tagged with the loss to drop to 0-1.
In a tightly contested 2-1 contest in the sixth inning, the Horned Frogs extended their lead to 4-1 via a two-run home run from Chase Brunson. TCU then made it 6-1 thanks to a two-out, two-run single from Noah Franco.
Cole Cramer paced the Horned Frogs at the plate by going a perfect 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Jimenez led the Black and Gold by going 2-for-4 while Boedicker finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
The Knights will return to action on Friday for game two against TCU. First Pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. The series will conclude on Saturday at noon. Both games will air live on ESPN+ as well as on the radio at FM 96.9 The Game.
And there goes Willy…🤸#SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/tIipA6ZYCL
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) April 17, 2025