ORLANDO – Fresh off a 4-0 week last week which included a three-game sweep at Utah, the UCF baseball team will take part in the Tigertown Collegiate Classic on Wednesday against neighboring foe Stetson in Lakeland, Florida.
The neutral-site midweek contest will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Detroit Tigers. The game will not be streamed but Marc Daniels will have the call on the radio at 810 AM Orlando. Live stats will also be available by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com. Tickets can be purchased for the game by visiting MLB.Tickets.com.
The Knights will enter Wednesday with a 25-15 overall record and in a tie for second place in the Big 12 standings with a 14-7 league record. UCF has won four straight after coming from behind to defeat Bethune-Cookman in midweek action last week and followed that up by sweeping a three-game conference series at Utah in the team’s inaugural trip to Salt Lake City. The Black and Gold will enter Wednesday currently receiving votes for both the USA TODAY Coaches and NCBAW Top 25 polls this week.
In the Utah series, UCF defeated the Utes by a combined score of 34-6 after taking the games by scores of 12-2, 12-4 and 10-0. The offense came to life on the weekend by outhitting Utah 40-18 in the series with seven home runs—which included a two-homer game from JD Rogers and another from John Smith III. As a team, UCF posted a .381 batting average over the weekend.
In Friday’s series opener, senior outfielder Rogers had a career-day by going a perfect 4-for-4 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Rogers started his stellar game with a solo home run in the second inning. He later doubled home a run in the fifth, blasted out a grand slam to deep center field in the seventh, and capped his big day with an RBI single in the eighth. The two-home run game marked his second of the season and five home runs in a four-game span.
Starter Mateo Gray earned the win on the mound after going five-plus innings and allowing just two runs while striking out one. Kevin Schoneboom tossed a season-high 3.0 innings of hitless and scoreless relief with a season-high four strikeouts to earn the save.
Then in a Saturday doubleheader, UCF earned a 12-4 come-from-behind win in the first game of the twin bill with a run in the sixth, three in the seventh, and seven in the eighth inning to secure the series. Catcher Zak Skinner led the way by going 4-for-5 at the plate with a game-high four RBIs, a home run, and two runs scored. John Smith III was next by homering twice on his way to a 2-for-5 outing with three runs scored and three RBIs. Landon Moran also had a multi-hit game by going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. In all, UCF tallied 13 hits in the game with seven of those being for extra bases.
A trio of relievers combined for eight solid innings of action in Saturday’s first game, as they combined to allow by one run on four hits. Freshman lefty Kaniel Rosado led the way by going a season-long 4.0 innings with a season-best six strikeouts. Anthony Lariz then followed with a scoreless inning of work to earn the win, while senior Kris Sosnowski finished things off with a season-high 3.0 innings of scoreless relief to earn his team-leading fourth save.
Then in Saturday’s nightcap, Camden Wicker went the distance en route to tossing a seven-inning complete-game shutout for the first complete game of his career. Wicker allowed just two hits and no runs while striking out four and walking two. He allowed just four baserunners to reach in the contest.
Offensively, the Knights put up four first-inning runs thanks to Smith III’s third home run of the day with a two-run shot. The offense didn’t look back from there, as it added a run in the third and five more in the fourth to earn the 10-0 run-rule victory.
Smith III led the Black and Gold in the series finale by going 3-for-4 with four RBIs, a home run and two runs scored. Javier Crespo was next by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a runs scored. Skinner, Moran and DeAmez Ross each also finished with two hits apiece.
For the series, Skinner led the way by batting a stellar .692 (9-for-13) with a homer, a double, five RBIs and six runs scored. Moran followed by batting an even .500 while Crespo hit .417 and Smith III tallied a .385 average with three home runs, two doubles and eight RBIs. Wicker led the way from the mound by tossing the seven-inning complete-game shutout, while Sosnowski, Schoneboom and Lariz all tossed scoreless outings in relief.
Season Leaders
The catcher Zak Skinner leads the Knights with a .368 batting average and a team-best 53 hits. He is third in both runs scored (30) and runs batted in (30). Outfielder John Smith III is next with a .353 average and leads the team with 40 RBIs and is tied for the team-lead with 10 home runs. Andrew Williamson follows with a .325 clip and team-leading tallies of 10 home runs, four triples and 44 runs scored. He is also second in doubles with 10 and RBIs with 33. Right-hander Matt Sauser leads UCF’s starting rotation with a 3.06 ERA, while fellow right-hander Mateo Gray fronts in wins with a 5-0 clip, while RHP Camden Wicker is 4-2 with a 3.50 ERA and has team-leading tallies of 48 strikeouts in 54.0 innings pitched.
Wicker Tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week
Junior right-hander Camden Wicker was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday after tossing the seven-inning complete-game shutout last Saturday at Utah. Wicker tied a career-long by tossing 7.0 dominant innings in which he allowed just two hits and no runs while striking out five and walking just two. He allowed just four baserunners to reach in the contest and faced the minimum in three of his seven innings of work.
About Stetson
The Hatters will come to Lakeland with an 18-25 overall record and currently in fourth place in the ASUN Graphite Division with a 9-11 league record. Stetson has won three straight and four of its last five games after sweeping West Georgia in conference play on the road last weekend and winning the series finale at North Florida the previous weekend. The sweep over West Georgia marked Stetson’s first ASUN sweep of the season.
Stetson went 41-22 a season ago and claimed the ASUN Graphite Division with a 24-6 league record. The Hatters advanced to their second straight NCAA Regional in 2025.
Juan De La Cruz leads the Hatters at the plate with a .315 average, 37 runs scored and 28 stolen bases. Yohann Dessureault is next with a .302 average and 31 RBIs, while Samuel Fernandez has a team-best six home runs and Foster Apple leads In doubles with 11 and is tied for the team lead in RBIs with 31. James Hays fronts the starting rotation with a 3-2 record, 4.19 ERA, and 69 strikeouts with 58.0 innings pitched. Thomas Achey is one of the top relievers with a 2.51 ERA while Andrew Lepine is tied for the team-lead with three saves.
Stetson is coached by head coach Steve Trimper. Trimper is in his 10th season at the helm in DeLand and his 28th season as an NCAA Division I head coach.
All-Time Series vs. Stetson
Wednesday’s midweek contest will mark the 135th all-time meeting between the Knights and Hatters and the second season meeting between the foes after the two had one rained out in Orlando a couple of weeks ago. UCF will enter play holding to an 81-53 all-time advantage. The Black and Gold have won seven of the last nine meetings, but Stetson defeated UCF 8-4 on March 24 in DeLand. UCF is 4-2 against Stetson in the Rich Wallace era.
UCF-Stetson Connection
A pair of current Knights previously played at Stetson, as senior first baseman Landon Moran played his first three seasons in DeLand while junior left-handed pitcher Matthew Heyl spent the last two seasons with the Hatters. Former Knight Corey Robinson, who spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons in Orlando, now plays for Stetson. Current UCF assistant coach Shane Gierke also previously coached at Stetson, while former UCF head coach Greg Lovelady is now an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Hatters.
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 two weeks ago, the Knights are currently just outside of the top 25 this week and receiving votes for both the USA TODAY Coaches and NCBWA polls. 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.
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.
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 Wednesday’s midweek, the Knights will return to John Euliano Park for a key Big 12 series against No. 19 Arizona State. The series will pit two of the top three teams in the conference, as UCF and ASU will enter the weekend tied for second place in the league standings. The series will run Friday to Sunday with Friday and Saturday’s games set for 6 p.m. and Sunday’s finale slated for 1 p.m.