No. 21 Baseball Drops Wild Series Finale to Cincinnati, 11-9No. 21 Baseball Drops Wild Series Finale to Cincinnati, 11-9

No. 21 Baseball Drops Wild Series Finale to Cincinnati, 11-9

by James Warnick
Box Score

ORLANDO – In a game that had a combined nine home runs, Cincinnati managed to pull out a wild 11-9 Sunday victory over No. 21 UCF to claim the Big 12 series.

After the Knights took a 9-5 advantage following a trio of home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bearcats answered with a pair of home runs over the next two innings to tie it and added two more solo round trippers in the top of the ninth inning to win it.

UCF dropped to 21-15 with the setback and into a tie for third place in the Big 12 standings with an 11-7 league mark. Cincinnati improved to 27-15 overall and 8-10 on conference play with the victory.

“I thought their reliever (Adam Buczkowski) had us in a pretzel there by punching us out eight times. That’s really the story of the game,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “And the seventh inning, when we had a chance to get an out with a ground ball, but we couldn’t. As well as later to get off the field with a double play, but we couldn’t make that one either. It was tough to close out the weekend the way we did in this one.”

What started in a pitcher’s duel in the early innings, junior right-hander Camden Wicker was dominant for the Knights through four innings by allowing just two base runners and no hits through four frames. He ended up striking out a career-high nine batters through his 5.0 innings of work on the afternoon.

UCF was the first to get things going at the plate in the bottom of the fourth, as senior JD Rogers blasted out his second home run in as many games with a three-run shot to left-center to give the Black and Gold an early 3-0 lead. The home run traveled 378 feet and marked his second of the season.

UC then bounced back by posting a five-spot in the top of the fifth to take a 5-3 advantage. One of the nation’s leading home run hitters in Quinton Coats capped the scoring in the frame with a solo home run for his 23rd long ball of the season.

The Knights quickly responded, however, with six runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 9-5 lead. After UCF loaded the bases with one out in the inning, senior John Smith III rocketed out a line drive grand slam to straight away center field to make it 7-5. The grand slam marked his seventh of the season and traveled 407 feet. Two batters later, Landon Moran then pulled out a solo shot to deep right field for his second round tripper of the season. Rogers then followed him up by going back-to-back with a solo homer of his own to the opposite field for his second of the game.

The back-to-back home runs marked the first time the Knights have achieved the feat since March of 2025 when DeAmez Ross and Edian Espinal did it at BYU. The three homers in an inning also marked the first time UCF had homered at least three times in an inning since April 21, 2024, against Central Michigan.

Jack Natili then answered for Cincinnati with a solo home run in the sixth to make it 9-6. Following a UCF defensive miscue in the seventh, UC then tacked on a run on a fielder’s choice to make it 9-7. Natili followed by hitting out a two-run home run to deep left field to tie the game. All three runs in the inning were unearned for the Bearcats.

After a scoreless eighth inning, Cincinnati managed to use the long ball again to take the lead with back-to-back two-out solo home runs. Derrick Pitts had the go-ahead home run before getting ejected by the umpires for taunting, while Natili capped the scoring with his third home run of the game.

UC reliever Adam Buczkowski then retired the Knights in order in the last of the ninth to seal the win for the Bearcats.

Buczkowski (4-1) earned the win in relief after allowing just one hit and no runs while striking out eight batters over the final 3.2 innings. UCF’s Evan Jones was tagged with the loss to drop to 1-3 on the year. In all, the Knights and Bearcats pitching staffs combined for 25 strikeouts in the contest.

Rogers led the Knights at the plate by going 2-for-3 with two home runs, four RBIs and two runs scored. The contest marked the senior’s first career two-home run outing. Smith III was next by going 2-for-4 with a grand slam, four RBIs and two runs scored. Moran also had a nice performance by going 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored. Natili led Cincinnati with three home runs, four RBIs and three runs scored.

The contest marked one of five Space Games for UCF on the season in which the team donned its Canaveral Blue uniforms.

On Deck

The Knights will now step out of conference play to take on Bethune-Cookman in midweek action on Tuesday night in Daytona Beach. Following Tuesday’s midweek, UCF will head to Utah to face the Utes for a three-game league series in Salt Lake City.