Offense Erupts as UCF Takes Series Over Texas TechOffense Erupts as UCF Takes Series Over Texas Tech

Offense Erupts as UCF Takes Series Over Texas Tech

by James Warnick
Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas – Antonio Jimenez homered twice and Andrew Williamson hit for the cycle to lead UCF baseball to a 15-6 victory over Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon at Rip Griffin Park to secure the Big 12 series.

The Knights hit out four home runs on the day in all, as Jimenez went 5-for-5 with a two-home run performance. Williamson, who also homered, went 4-for-5 and hit for the cycle, while freshman Mateo Gray hit out his first collegiate home run in the ninth inning.

UCF moves to 27-24 overall and 8-19 in Big 12 play to move into a tie for 12th place in the league standings. TTU drops to 18-30 and 12-15 in conference play with the setback.

“It was nice to get off and running there in the first inning, but there was also some sustained offense throughout the day,” head coach Rich Wallace said. “We also had some stolen bases in there, some situational hitting, and I couldn’t be more proud of the offense and the stick-to-itiveness in this one.”

The Knights got off to another strong start by scoring four runs on five hits in the top of the first to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Williamson started the early rally with a one-out double. He then came in to score on a two-out RBI single from Andrew Sundean for the first run. Jimenez followed by blasting out a two-run home run to deep center field. The round tripper marked UCF’s third first-inning home run of the weekend and traveled 421 feet. Following a hustle double from Dylan King, Braden Calise capped the big inning with an RBI double.

The Black and Gold offense kept things going with two more runs in the second and another in the third to take a 7-1 advantage. DeAmez Ross reached on a two-out hit in the second and Williamson followed by pulling out a two-run home run to right field. Williamson’s big fly marked his team-leading 12th of the season and his third of the series. After Texas Tech picked up a run in the bottom of the second, UCF responded as Jimenez belted out his second home run of the game by crushing out a 444-foot shot to deep left field.

The Red Raiders got a run back in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth on a two-run home run from Davis Rivers to make it 7-4.

Williamson led off the fifth with a triple and came in to score on an RBI groundout from Edian Espinal to extend UCF’s lead to 8-4. But TTU struck back with a solo homer from Logan Hughes in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-5. The Red Raiders then added a run in the sixth to pull within two at 8-6.

Entering the seventh inning just a single shy of the cycle, the sophomore right fielder Williamson sharply singled to center field to accomplish the first cycle of his collegiate career and UCF’s first since 2015 with Tommy Williams accomplished the feat against Fairfield on March 13 of that year. The Knights later loaded the bases, and Jimenez drove in two more runs with a two-run single through the left side. Matt Prevesk later picked up an RBI by getting hit by a pitch with the bases full and Mateo Gray capped a four-run inning by driving a ball to deep right field for a sacrifice fly and extend the Black and Gold lead to 12-6.

With Dom Stagliano pitching well over 4.2 innings of solid relief, the Back and then put the game away with three more insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Jimenez doubled for the second time, Calise later singled, and the freshman Gray drove them all in by hitting out his first collegiate home run to left field.  

Kris Sosnowski then entered and retired the Red Raiders in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.

Stagliano earned the victory in relief to move to 2-3 on the year after allowing just runs over 4.2 innings. Matt Sauser started and surrendered three earned runs over 3.1 innings. TTU’s Zane Petty was tagged with the loss to fall to 1-4.

Offensively, Jimenez led the Knights by going 5-for-5 with two home runs, two doubles, five RBIs and three runs scored. Williamson finished 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits, four runs scored and two runs batted in. Sundean followed by having a two-hit game while Gray drove in a career-best four runs. Rivers led Texas Tech by going 2-for-3 with four RBIs.  

The contest closed a seven-game, 11-day road trip for the Knights.

The Black and Gold will now return home for their final four games of the regular season. UCF will first host Presbyterian in its final non-conference game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before welcoming Baylor to town for a key Big 12 series Thursday to Saturday at John Euliano Park.