ORLANDO – The No. 21 UCF baseball team will return to Big 12 Conference play with a home series against Cincinnati this weekend at John Euliano Park.
The series will run Friday to Sunday with games set for 6 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, as was as 12 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will air live on ESPN+ as well as on the radio. Friday’s opener will be on 810 AM Orlando, while Saturday and Sunday’s contest will be on FM 96.9 The Game. Live stats will be available for each contest by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com.
The Knights will enter the weekend in a tie for second place in the Big 12 standings with a 20-13 overall record and a 10-5 league mark. The Black and Gold are ranked in the top 25 for the third straight week, as they are currently ranked 21st by D1Baseball this week.
UCF will look to return to its winning ways this weekend as it has dropped four straight contests. The Black and Gold first fell in a trio of tightly contested games at Kansas last weekend—4-3 (11 inn.), 6-3, 3-1—before dropping a 5-4 extra-inning battle to in-state foe Jacksonville on Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s midweek against the Dolphins, UCF built an early 3-1 lead but back answered JU with a run in the fourth and another in the eighth to tie it and force extra innings. JU then scored a go-ahead run in the top of the 10th and the Knights immediately answered thanks to a clutch two-out RBI single from Cayden Gaskin to force an 11th frame. The Dolphins then picked up a two-out RBI single from Roger Vergara that just snuck through the middle of the infield in the top of the 11th inning to pull out the midweek game.
Gaskin led the Knights offensively in the game by going 2-for-6 with two runs batted in, while Javier Crespo went 2-for-4 with a walk. Andrew Williamson was also on base four times after tying a UCF season-high with four walks. The Black and Gold also had a solid start from right-hander Roman Kimball in his first start in a Black and Gold uniform by tying a career-long with 4.0 innings pitched.
In the KU series, senior outfielder DeAmez Ross led UCF in the weekend by hitting .385 with two doubles, one triple, two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base. The catcher Zak Skinner was next by batting .364 with an RBI, while Gaskin followed with a .286 clip and an RBI. Sophomore Mateo Gray led the Black and Gold’s starting rotation by allowing just three earned runs on seven hits while striking out five over 5.2 innings. The bullpen was also strong for the Knights, as seven of the eight relievers that saw action in the series tossed scoreless outings in Kimball, Matthew Heyl, Evan Jones, Kaniel Rosado, Kris Sosnowski, Kevin Schoneboom and Anthony Lariz.
Season Leaders
Senior catcher Zak Skinner leads the Black and Gold at the plate on the season with a .347 average. He is also third on the team in RBIs with 23. Senior outfielder John Smith III is next with a .343 clip. He is second on the team in home runs (5) and RBIs (26), and third in doubles with seven. Junior outfielder Andrew Williamson follows with a .323 average and leads the team in home runs (9), triples (4), extra-base hits (21), runs (37), RBIs (28), walks (26), slugging (.672), and on-base percentage (.447). Junior right-hander Matt Sauser fronts the starting rotation with a 1.48 ERA, while fellow righty Camden Wicker is 3-2 with a 3.43 ERA and paces the team in strikeouts (34) and innings pitched (42.0). Right-handers Kris Sosnowski (2.41 ERA, 2 SV), Kevin Schoneboom (2.49 ERA) and Evan Jones (2.97 ERA, 2 SV) front the bullpen.
Scheduled Starting Pitchers
Sophomore right-hander Mateo Gray (3-0, 5.24 ERA) will take the ball for UCF for his fourth start of the season and his second straight Friday night start in the series opener. Fellow right-handers Camden Wicker (3-2, 3.43 ERA) and Matt Sauser (2-2, 1.48 ERA) are scheduled to start on the mound on Saturday and Sunday with the decision for who will be starting which game to be announced at a later time. Cincinnati will go with Preseason All-Big 12 honoree and right-hander Nathan Taylor (4-1, 3.88 ERA) on Friday, RHP Logan Knight (3-3, 5.75 ERA) on Saturday, and RHP Connor Blue (3-0, 4.72 ERA) on Sunday.
About Cincinnati
The Bearcats are currently in a tie for 10th place in the Big 12 standings with a 25-14 overall record and a 6-9 league clip. Cincinnati has won four of its last five games after taking two of three from Baylor at home last weekend as well as a pair of midweek wins over rival Xavier and Miami (Ohio). Besides the series win over the Bears, UC also holds a Big 12 series victory on the year over Utah.
Cincinnati was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 this season after going 33-26 a season ago and placing eighth in league play with a 16-14 conference record. The Bearcats had their 2025 campaign come to a close with a trip to the Knoxville Regional, which marked the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.
Derrick Pitts leads UC offensively with a .377 average and is second in the Big 12 in hits with 57. Enzo Infelise is next with a .372 clip, while Quinton Coats holds a .345 average and tops the team with 22 home runs, 46 runs scored, 32 RBIs, and an .812 slugging percentage. His 22 round trippers are good enough to rank him second nationally. Right-hander Nathan Taylor anchors the starting rotation with a 4-1 record and a 3.88 ERA. He also tops the club with 71 strikeouts in 51.0 innings of work. His 51 innings rank him second in the conference while his 71 punchouts are third. Fellow right-hander Chad Brown is one of the top relievers with a 2-0 record, three saves and a 2.78 ERA over 13 appearances.
The Bearcats are coached by Jordan Bischel. Bischel is in his third season at Cincinnati and holds a 90-65 record at UC.
All-Time Series vs. Cincinnati
Friday’s series opener between UCF and Cincinnati will mark the 40th all-time meeting between the longtime conference foes. The Knights will enter play holding to a 21-18 all-time advantage. It will mark the 12th straight season the two have met in league play (excluding 2020). UCF is 9-6 against UC in Orlando but the Bearcats have won back-to-back series.
Williamson Tabbed Perfect Game National Player of the Week
After his big series at WVU April 3-5, junior outfielder Andrew Williamson was named the Perfect Game College Baseball National Player of the Week. Williamson helped lead the Knights to a big series win at No. 11 WVU by hitting .600 for the series with three home runs, a double, six runs scored and three RBIs. He also drew five walks and posted a stellar 2.333 OPS with a 1.600 slugging percentage and a .733 on-base clip.
He posted his first two-homer game since his freshman season by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored a pair of home runs in a 5-0 victory on Friday. After going 1-for-3 with three walks and a run scored on Saturday, he capped the impressive weekend by going 2-for-3 with a home run, two walks and two runs scored in a 5-1 victory on Sunday to help the Black and Gold capture the pivotal conference series.
Ranked Knights
By entering the top 25 on March 30, the Knights have now been ranked in each of head coach Rich Wallace’s three seasons at the helm of UCF baseball. In his first year in 2024, Wallace helped the Black and Gold spend two weeks in the national rankings in early April and ranked as high as No. 17 by D1Baseball and 16th by the NCBWA. Last season, the Knights spent a week ranked 25th by Perfect Game in mid-March. UCF is 7-12 when ranked in the Rich Wallace era.
After entering the D1Baseball rankings at No. 23 on March 30, the Knights moved up 11 spots to No. 12 last week in the D1Baseball rankings. The Black and Gold checks in at No. 21 this week after dropping the series at KU last week. UCF claimed its first ranked vs. ranked series at WVU since May 18-20, 2017, with No. 29 UCF took two of three from No. 23 South Florida in American Conference action. It also marked the Black and Gold’s first series victory over a ranked foe since April 17-19, 2025, when it took two of three from No. 15 TCU at John Euliano Park.
Cardiac Knights
With Sunday, March 29’s walk-off win over Arizona, the Knights pulled out four walk-off victories all on Sundays over a five-week span. The Knights started the stretch with a 2-1 walk-off win over in-state foe South Florida in the series finale on March 1. With the game all deadlocked at 2-1 heading into the last of the ninth, UCF quickly loaded the bases with nobody out. Zak Skinner then worked a full count with the bases loaded and came through with a sharp single through the right side of the infield to give the Knights the walk-off 2-1 victory.
Trailing 9-4 entering the bottom of the ninth against Murray State on Sunday March 8, the Knights put together a last-inning rally for the ages by scoring six runs to record their second walk-off win of the streak. UCF again quickly loaded the bases with nobody out. Javier Crespo started the scoring with an RBI single, and John Smith III came in to score on a wild pitch. James Hankerson Jr. then made it a 9-8 score with a two-run pinch hit single and Jordan Lodise evened the score with a safety squeeze. After a sac bunt moved the winning run to third base with only one out, Cayden Gaskin delivered a walk-off pinch-hit RBI single to left center to complete the epic comeback.
UCF kept the Sunday walk-off streak alive with by pulling out a 6-5 walk-off win over Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 15, to record its first Big 12 series sweep since joining the conference prior to the 2024 season. After OK State tied things up in the top of the ninth, the Black and Gold offense didn’t waste any time rallying as Landon Moran quickly reached with a sharp leadoff single into right field. DeAmez Ross then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position and James Hankerson Jr. plated Moran with a walk-off RBI single through the right side of the infield on the first pitch of the at-bat.
The Knights then pulled out their fourth Sunday walk-off win on Sunday, March 29, with a 3-2 13-inning victory. All tied at 2-2 since the eighth inning, Cayden Gaskin doubled into the leftfield corner with one away. Following an intentional walk to John Smith III, the Knights then called upon freshman Stephen Chucka to pinch hit. The hometown kid delivered the game-winning hit with a walk-off RBI single through the right side of the infield to bring in Gaskin and complete the sweep over the 2025 College World Series Wildcats.
On Deck
Following this weekend’s series, the Knights will head to Daytona Beach to face Bethune-Cookman in midweek action on Tuesday, April 21 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The contest will mark the first of two season meetings between the Knights and Wildcats. UCF will then head to the Beehive State for its inaugural series in Salt Lake City against the University of Utah April 24-26.
