FORT WORTH, Texas – UCF baseball jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and tacked on eight more runs runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Big 12 preseason favorite TCU Horned Frogs 18-7 in the series opener on Friday night at Lupton Stadium.
The 18 runs marked a season-high for the Knights as they also slugged out a season-best 18 hits. UCF (14-6) moved to a perfect 4-0 in Big 12 Conference play with the victory and has now won five straight and 10 of their last 11 games. The Horned Frogs, who fell out of the national rankings earlier in the week, dropped to 12-9 overall and 1-3 in league play with the setback.
Andrew Williamson and Jordan Lodise led the Black and Gold at the plate by each tallying four hits on the night. The junior outfielder Williamson led the way by finishing a home run shy of the cycle with a double, a triple, three runs scored and four runs batted in on his way to a 4-for-5 performance. The freshman shortstop Lodise was right behind him by also posting a 4-for-5 outing with a pair of doubles, three runs scored and three runs batted in. In all, seven different Knights recorded multiple hits in the game.
“The offense had consistent at-bats all night. We had a big two-out RBI hit from (Javier) Crespo in the first inning to get us going a little bit. We then executed a couple bunts, stole some bases and just continued to have consistent at-bats throughout,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “We then took a punch in the middle of the game, but Sos (Kris Sosnowski) kind of put a lid on it for us. And we played pretty well there at the end.”
The Knights got off to a fast start with a run in the first and seven more in the second inning to take a quick 8-0 lead. Javier Crespo plated Williamson in the first inning with a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield for the first run.
After Black and Gold starter Braden Smith sat the Horned Frogs down in order in the bottom of the inning, UCF kept things going by scoring seven runs on six hits after sending 13 batters to the plate in the top of the second. DeAmez Ross singled and scored the first run of the frame following a single from Lodise. The captain Williamson then pulled a two-run triple down the first-base line for his team-leading fourth triple of the season two batters later. John Smith III added an RBI triple, and the Knights tacked on runs on a bases loaded walk, hit by pitch and a wild pitch to hang the crooked number in the inning.
Two-run triple from the captain! His team-leading 4th of the year 🫡 pic.twitter.com/kSTYXIS9pc
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 20, 2026
TCU picked up a run in the bottom of the second, but Braden Smith did a nice job of responding by stranding a runner on third base in the third inning with a pair of strikeouts in the frame to keep it an 8-1 score.
Lodise started off the fifth inning for the Knights with a ground-rule double to center field and Williamson followed two batters later by driving him home with an RBI single to center for his third run batted in of the game to extend UCF’s advantage to 9-1. The Knights later loaded the bases in the frame and looked for more, but the TCU defense managed to turn an inning-ending double play to leave the bases full.
The Frogs then rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull within 9-6. Sawyer Strosnider, Chase Brunson, Nolan Traeger, Colton Griffin and Rob Liddington all drove in runs for TCU in the inning. The Preseason Big 12 Conference Player of the Year Strosnider then hit out a solo home run in the sixth inning to pull the Frogs within two at 9-7.
With Kris Sosnowski pitching well in relief for UCF, Zak Skinner reached base for the Knights with a one-out single in the top of the eighth. He then took second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch. Crespo drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field to an insurance run to make it 10-7 UCF. Black and Gold closer Evan Jones then entered from the bullpen and promptly retired the Frogs in order in last of the eighth which included back-to-back punchouts.
The Knights then tacked on another crooked number with eight more runs in the top of the ninth to put the game away. The eight-run inning marks the most runs in program history that the Knights have scored in the ninth frame. Lodise started the scoring in the big inning with an RBI double. Williamson followed with an RBI double of his own and Smith III plated a run with an RBI single. UCF later added three more runs on back-to-back-to-back bases-loaded walks and Lodise capped the big inning with a two-run single to give him two hits and three RBIs in the inning.
Lodise too has a four-hit night as he drives in a pair to give us a season-high 18 runs ‼️ pic.twitter.com/C8QWsTN9Ji
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 21, 2026
Kevin Schoneboom then entered on the mound and stranded a pair of runners with a game-ending strikeout to wrap up the conference victory.
Schoneboom gets the strikeout to complete the victory! UCF puts up season highs in both hits and runs on the night 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rotIFNjuD2
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 21, 2026
The senior Sosnowski earned the win on the mound for the Black and Gold to move to 1-0 after allowing just one run on two hits over 2.1 innings of solid relief. Jones and Schoneboom then followed with scoreless innings down the stretch. TCU starter Mason Brassfield was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-2.
Behind Williamson and Lodise’s big performances at the plate, Smith III, Crespo and Ross all finished with two hits and two runs batted in. Traeger paced TCU by going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
The contest marked just UCF’s second true road game of the 2026 season. The TCU series also marks the Black and Gold’s fifth straight opponent that made the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
On Deck
The Knights and Frogs will continue the Big 12 series with game two on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT. The two will then close the weekend series on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. Both games will air live on ESPN+. Following Sunday’s finale, the Black and Gold will return to the Sunshine State to face Stetson in DeLand on Tuesday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m.