ORLANDO – Fresh off a midweek victory at in-state foe Bethune-Cookman, the UCF baseball team will head to Salt Lake City this weekend for a Big 12 series at Utah.
The three-game league series will run Friday to Sunday at Utah’s brand-new America First Ballpark, which opened just last month. Friday’s opener is set for 8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. MT, while Saturday’s contest is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET/2 p.m. MT, and Sunday’s finale is slated for 1:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. MT. All three games will air live on ESPN+ as well as on the radio at FM 96.9 The Game. Live stats will also be available by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com.
The Knights will enter the series with a 22-15 overall record and in a tie for third place in the Big 12 standings with an 11-7 conference mark. The Black and Gold have won two of their last four games after taking one of three against Cincinnati last weekend and following that up with a 5-4 midweek victory at Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach on Tuesday. The Knights are currently receiving votes for this week’s USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
With UCF trailing by a run late in the game at B-CU on Tuesday, senior catcher Zak Skinner delivered a clutch go-ahead two-out two-run single to put the Knights on top. Senior Kevin Schoneboom then finished his third inning of scoreless relief in the bottom of the eighth, and fellow senior Kris Sosnowski came on and retired the Wildcats in order in the ninth to secure the win.
Senior right-hander Roman Kimball went a career-long 5.0 innings and allowed just two runs while also tying a season-high with four strikeouts. Schoneboom then earned the win after going a season-high 2.2 innings of hitless and scoreless relief to improve to 2-1 on the year. Sosnowski earned his team-leading third save after facing the minimum in the final inning.
Offensively, Skinner drove in a game-high two runs, while Andrew Williamson and John Smith III collected three hits apiece and drove in a run apiece. Javier Crespo also had a nice day at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a walk.
Last weekend against Cincinnati, UCF claimed the opener by a score of 7-1 behind a dominant start on the mound from sophomore right-hander Mateo Gray. In just his fourth career start, Gray had a career outing by going a career-long 7.2 innings and striking out a career-best nine batters. He shined in the contest by allowing just one run on four hits. Gray faced the minimum in three innings of work and didn’t allow a run until the eighth inning. Reliever Anthony Lariz then came on and finished things out to help propel the Knights to the 7-1 series-opening victory. The two combined to allow just four hits on the day.
The Bearcats then responded to pull out games two and three by scores of 9-3 and 11-9.
The Knight offense had a big series against the Bearcats by hitting out seven home runs. Senior outfielder JD Rogers led the way by homering three times and going 3-for-4 with three runs scored, five RBIs and a walk. First baseman Landon Moran was next by batting .444 with a double, a homer, three runs scored and three runs batted in. Smith III followed by batting .300 with two round trippers, four runs scored and five RBIs. Williamson also homered in the series with his team-leading 10th of the season. On the mound, Gray led the way by going 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA over 7.2 dominant innings of work with nine strikeouts. Relievers Schoneboom, Kimball, Matthew Heyl, Kaniel Rosado and Zachary Malvasio all tossed scoreless outings over the series.
Season Leaders
The senior John Smith III leads the way offensively with a .350 batting average. He is also tops on the team with 32 runs batted in and is second in homers with seven and doubles with eight. Zak Skinner is next with a .336 average and is third on the team RBIs with 25, while Andrew Williamson is hitting .324 and leads the way in homers (10), triples (4), extra-base hits (22), runs scored (40), slugging (.648) and on-base percentage (.441). He is also second in RBIs with 31 and in stolen bases with eight. Junior right-hander Matt Sauser fronts the starting rotation with a 2.36 ERA, while sophomore righty Mateo Gray is a perfect 4-0, and junior righty Camden Wicker leads with 43 strikeouts over 47.0 innings. Right-handers Kevin Schoneboom (2.08 ERA), Kris Sosnowski (2.61 ERA, 3 SV) and Evan Jones (3.27 ERA, 2 SV) are a couple of the top arms from the bullpen.
About Utah
The Utes will enter the series in a tie for sixth place in the conference standings with a 21-15 overall record and a 9-9 conference clip. Utah has won four straight games after sweeping Texas Tech at home last weekend and following that up with a 16-9 midweek victory over in-state foe Utah Valley on Tuesday. Besides the TTU sweep, the Utes also hold Big 12 series wins on the year Kansas State and Arizona.
Utah was picked to finish 14th in the conference this season after going 21-29 overall and taking 14th in its first season of competition in the Big 12 last year with an 8-22 league mark.
Jake Long leads the Utes on the season with a .379 batting average. He is also tops on the team with nine home runs, 23 extra-base hits, and 49 RBIs. Cameron Gurney is next with a .376 average while Jet Gilliam follows at .369. Luke Jacobs fronts the team in runs scored with 40 and doubles with 13. Right-hander Colter McAnelly paces the starting rotation with a 5.98 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 46.2 innings while Payton Riske leads in win with a 3-2 record. Dillon Fine (1.38 ERA) and Demitri Diamant (3.09 ERA) are a couple of the team’s top relievers, while Dylan Gazaway fronts in saves with two and is tied for the team lead in wins with a 3-1 record.
Utah is coached by head coach Gary Henderson. Henderson is in his fifth season at the helm of the Utes and his 15th season overall. He holds a 442-382-2 career record.
All-Time Series vs. Utah
Friday’s series opener will mark just the fourth all-time meeting between the Knights and Utes. It will also mark the first as members of the Big 12 Conference. UCF holds a 2-1 series advantage after taking two of three games over Utah in February of 2004 in Orlando. The trip will mark just UCF’s second trip in history to the state of Utah, with the first being last season at BYU.
Scheduled Starting Pitchers
Right-handers Mateo Gray and Matt Sauser are scheduled to get the start on the mound for UCF this weekend. Gray (4-0, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to start game one on Friday, while Sauser (2-3, 2.36 ERA) will start on Saturday. Sunday’s starter is to be announced for UCF. The Utes will go with right-handers Colter McAnelly (2-4, 5.98 ERA) on Friday and Payton Rieske (3-2, 7.08 ERA) on Saturday. Utah’s starter for Sunday is also to be announced.
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 8-14 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 the following week in the D1Baseball rankings. After being ranked No. 21 last week, the Knights are currently just outside of the top 25 this week and receiving votes for the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. 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 return to the Sunshine State for a midweek game against Stetson on Wednesday, April 29 for the TigerTown Collegiate Classic at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. Following the midweek game, UCF will return to John Euliano Park for a three-game league series against No. 23 Arizona State next weekend.
