ORLANDO – The UCF Baseball team moved to 7-1 in Big 12 play by defeating the defending Big 12 tournament champion Arizona Wildcats in run-rule fashion to claim its third straight conference series with a 13-3 victory on a wet and windy Saturday night at John Euliano Park.
The Knights improve to 17-8 and stand alone atop the Big 12 standings. The 7-1 record marks UCF’s best record to start conference play since 2014. The Black and Gold have also won eight of their last 10 games and have won three straight Big 12 series for the first time since 2024. The Wildcats drop to 9-17 overall and 2-6 in conference play.
“To not really know that he was starting until during batting practice and pitch the way that he did, I couldn’t be more proud of Mateo (Gray),” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “You go through all of his pitches. The fastball command, the sink on the two-seamer, the cutter was in there, and the change up was in play, and the curveball. And he also did a nice job of fielding his position. I couldn’t ask for more out of him today.”
In his first collegiate start and filling in for Matt Sauser who was scratched from his start earlier in the day, sophomore right-hander Mateo Gray went a career-long 6.0 innings and allowed just three hits and two runs while striking out two and walking one. He faced the minimum in three of his six innings on the day en route to a career outing for the Knights.
Offensively, UCF tallied 17 hits to mark the team’s seventh conference game with double-digit hits thus far, signaling a key to victory, winning all of those games.
Every Knight who stepped up to the plate recorded a hit, with five players recording two or more hits and three members posting three hits.
Austin Jacobs tallied three RBIs and three runs scored on 3-for-3 hitting, while Cayden Gaskin also recorded three RBIs going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. DeAmez Ross logged three singles on 3-for-5 hitting and scored three runs.
Gaskin opened the scoring for the Knights, running home off a John Smith III single in the first inning. Gaskin would connect on an RBI groundout to short in the second, also recording two more RBIs in the fourth with a go-ahead two-run single to the right side.
What a night for @Cayden13Gaskin ‼️@Kia Electric Moment of The Game pic.twitter.com/8WiHTDYSfN
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 29, 2026
The Wildcats responded to UCF’s early start, scoring off a sacrifice fly in the second and a solo home run in the third to level the score 2-2 heading into the fourth.
After Arizona tied things up, UCF’s Gray held the Wildcats scoreless for innings four through six, recording two strikeouts in the process.
Gray’s pitching opened the door for the Knights to pull ahead, recording five unanswered runs during those innings. Following Gaskin’s go-ahead two-run single in the fourth, the Knights fired off three runs in the sixth thanks to a Jacobs double, Zak Sinner bases-loaded walk, and Javier Crespo hit by a pitch.
As the rain began to fall in the eighth inning, the Knights put the game away via the run-rule by scoring in six runs. Crespo started the scoring in the frame with an RBI double and Landon Moran followed with an RBI single. Jacobs later drove in a pair with a two-run single and Smith III worked a bases loaded walk for another run. The Knights then completed the run-rule win, as Gaskin scored on a wild pitch to make it 13-3.
Saturday Knight run-rule in Orlando...
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 29, 2026
THE KNIGHTS ARE A BIG 12 BEST 7-1 🔥 pic.twitter.com/o0vudLWNdz
Gray earned the victory to move to 3-0 on the season. Arizona starter Bailey Smith dropped to 3-1 on the season, posting his first loss. Kevin Schoneboom tossed 1.2 innings of solid relief for the Black and Gold and Kris Sosnowski earned his second save after stranding a pair of runners in the top of the eighth inning.
Mateo was dealing tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SZWRqD5Gs7
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) March 29, 2026
The Knights have now won 13 of their last 16 games played. Arizona is UCF’s seventh straight opponent that made the NCAA Tournament a season ago. The series win also marks the Black and Gold’s second of the year over a team that advanced to Omaha a season ago, as UCF previously swept Murray State earlier in the month.
On Deck
The Knights look to complete the series sweep for the second time in Big 12 play, with game three Sunday at 1 p.m. Following Sunday’s finale, UCF will travel to Happy Valley to face Penn State Wednesday, before resuming conference play No. 15 West Virginia next weekend.