ORLANDO – Stephen Chucka delivered a go-ahead bases-clearing double en route to leading UCF to a five-run seventh inning to propel the Knights to a 10-6 series-opening victory over Kansas State on Thursday night at John Euliano Park.
With the Black and Gold down a run in the last of the seventh, UCF loaded the bases with one out in the inning. Senior Landon Moran then tied things up with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. The Knights then went to the freshman Chucka and he lined the first pitch he saw over the leftfielder’s head and off the wall for a clutch bases-clearing pinch-hit double. He then came in to score on a Jordan Lodise sacrifice fly to cap the five-run frame.
With the victory, the Knights moved to 30-19 overall and 18-10 in Big 12 play with just two regular season games remaining. The 18 league wins mark a program-best since joining the Big 12 Conference prior to the 2024 campaign. K-State dropped to 27-25 overall and 10-18 in league play. UCF will enter Friday in a tie for third place in the conference standings.
While the first two Wildcats reached base on a pair of hard-hit balls to the left side, Black and Gold starter Mateo Gray forced a soft grounder up the middle that Austin Jacobs collected before stepping on second base and firing to first for the double play. A weak grounder back to Gray for the third out sent the Knights to the bottom half.
Fresh off an eight-hit weekend in Waco, John Smith III roped an off speed offering down the left-field line for his fourth double in as many games. The Black and Gold couldn’t capitalize on the one-out situation, however, which preceded a scoreless second inning,
K-State got on the board to commence the third, as AJ Evasco launched a 2-2 pitch to deep center to give the visitors the early advantage.
The response from the Knights was swift, with the red-hot Jordan Lodise crushing his third home run in four games to level the contest. The freshman, who boasted just one home run in his first 43 games, provided power once again at the bottom of the lineup to spark the UCF offense.
LODISE CRUSHES ONE TO LEFT 😤😤
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 14, 2026
His third HR in four games levels it in the third! pic.twitter.com/3I2MaSaWqx
While Jacobs riffled a triple to left, K-State’s Tazwell Butler retired the next three batters to escape the jam. In the top half of the fourth, Gray was replaced by Max Murray after two Wildcats reached base. After subsequently striking out the first batter, Murray hit Cadyn Karl before walking in a run to put K-State back into the lead.
UCF limited the damage as the freshman reliever struck out Dee Kennedy to send the game into the bottom half. A pair of scoreless frames sent the contest into the fifth, as singles from Jacobs and DeAmez Ross had the Knights knocking on the door. With Smith III at the plate, he tapped a soft grounder to third which was enough to score Jacobs and tie the game at two, securing the senior with his team-leading 49th RBI of the campaign.
Fellow senior Zak Skinner firmly flipped the script as he fended off multiple two-strike attempts with a single to right field, scoring Ross from second and garnering the Black and Gold a 3-2 lead heading into the sixth.
The back-and-forth affair continued, as K-State authored a two-out rally of three hits and a pair of runs, aided by a wild pitch and passed ball, to give the Wildcats a 4-3 advantage after six.
After being retired in the bottom half of the sixth, the Knights went to work in the seventh to take the lead right back once again. Singles from Smith and Skinner, along with a walk from Javier Crespo, loaded the bases for Moran. The first baseman lined a single past his counterpart into right field to tie the game, scoring Smith before Skinner was held at third.
Wallace opted to continue the good fortunes of the righty-lefty matchup, pinch hitting Oviedo, Florida, native and freshman Chucka. Not inexperienced in clutch moments, having walked off Arizona for a three-game sweep earlier this year, Chucka wasted no time, torching the first offering off the wall in left to clear the bases.
Bases loaded, tied game, bottom of the seventh...
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 15, 2026
The Hometown Hero @stephenchucka delivers 🫡 https://t.co/nDXIZYZDtk pic.twitter.com/aOq5hHikXD
Fellow freshman, Lodise, followed with a sac fly, bringing home Chucka who was greeted warmly at the dugout by his fellow Knights. With four hits and five runs in the inning, the Black and Gold took a commanding 8-4 lead into the eighth, where Andrew Williamson launched his 12th home run of the season to add a pair for the hosts.
Willy provides some insurance with his 12th bomb of the season 💣💣 pic.twitter.com/gQtxpevIPC
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 15, 2026
Evan Jones, who entered the eighth, closed the door on the a commanding series-opening triumph in Orlando, securing UCF its 30th win of the season.
Senior reliever Kevin Schoneboom earned the win after tossing 1.1 scoreless innings to move to 3-2 on the year. Jones finished things off by surrendering just one earned run (two total) along with a team-high three strikeouts over the final two innings. K-State reliever Miles Smith was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-5 on the year.
Offensively, seniors Smith III and Moran tallied a game-high three hits apiece, while Chucka drove in a game-best three runs with his clutch go-ahead three-run double in the seventh. In all, five different Knights collected multiple hits on the evening, as UCF outhit the Wildcats 15-8.
On Deck
The Knights will look to secure a top six seed and a double bye for next week’s Big 12 Tournament with game two of the series on Friday at 6 p.m. The contest will mark Senior Knight for UCF, as 14 seniors will be honored prior to the game. The final regular-season series will then close on Saturday at 1 p.m. Following the weekend, the Black and Gold will head to Surprise, Arizona, for the 2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament Presented by Allstate May 19-23 at Surprise Stadium.