ORLANDO – Freshman Stephen Chucka tied it in the ninth with a pinch-hit solo home run and senior Landon Moran plated the winning run with a ground ball on the right side of the infield to lead UCF to a 6-5 walk-off victory over Kansas State in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at John Euliano Park.
The Knights improved to 31-20 overall and 19-11 in Big 12 play to finish the regular season in a tie for third place in the conference standings. The Black and Gold claimed their seventh Big 12 series in the process and 19th conference win which both mark program-highs in the Big 12 era. The 19 league wins also mark the most conference victories for UCF since 2005 when it too won 19 league games in the Atlantic Sun Conference that season.
UCF has locked up the No. 4 seed for next week’s Big 12 Tournament and has received a double bye into the tournament’s quarterfinal round on Thursday, May 21. The Knights will open play in the first of four quarterfinal contests that day against No. 5 Oklahoma State at 12 p.m. EDT/9 a.m. MST in Arizona.
“I asked this team when we first met to make a stand in this league, and to go from nine wins to 19 obviously says that we can compete in this conference. I also challenged them to play better at the end of games on Sundays, no matter what we have left in the bullpen, and they did that today. I couldn’t be prouder of this team,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said.
In a contest that went back and forth on the afternoon, the Wildcats (28-26, 11-19 Big 12) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After being hit by a pitch earlier in the inning, Dee Kennedy came in to score on an RBI groundout off the bat of AJ Evasco to give K-State the early advantage.
The Knights then worked a pair of walks in the last of the second inning and JD Rogers bunted them into scoring position. Jordan Lodise promptly delivered a deep flyball to center field to bring in Javier Crespo via a sacrifice fly to deadlock the score.
K-State loaded the bases in the top of the third, but senior reliever Kevin Schoneboom came on and pitched out of the jam by recording back-to-back strikeouts to strand a trio of runners on the basepaths.
After Kansas State regained the lead via a two-out RBI double from Ty Smolinski in the top of the fourth, UCF again tied it in the bottom of the inning as Crespo lined a solo home run out to the bullpen in left. Crespo’s round tripper marked the fourth of season for the senior and Orlando native and traveled 348 feet.
Crespo rockets one out to left field to tie it up 🚀
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 16, 2026
With his dad watching on from the broadcast booth 🥹 pic.twitter.com/acvDT4byV9
With left-handed reliever Kaniel Rosado putting zeros on the scoreboard over the next couple of innings, the Knights took a 3-2 lead in the sixth. Moran led off the inning with a double and later moved up to third base on a groundout to the right side off the bat of Cayden Gaskin. Lodise then drove him home with an RBI double off the wall in left field for his second RBI of the game.
Lodise drives in his 2nd run of the game with an RBI double off the wall in left 💪 pic.twitter.com/qGD0y8ryYl
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 16, 2026
The Wildcats responded with two runs of their own in the top of the eighth to regain a 4-3 advantage. Pinch hitter Kyle Lodice started the inning with a solo home run and Caydn Karl later plated a run with an RBI single.
Moran led off the last of the eighth inning with his third hit of the day with a single. He moved to second base on a wild pitch and over to third on a groundout from Gaskin. The freshman Lodise then brought him home with an RBI fielder’s choice in which Moran got a good break on the play and managed to beat the throw to the plate to tie the score at 4-4.
K-State scratched across a go-ahead run in the top of the ninth on a sac fly from Grant Gallagher to take a late 5-4 advantage. But back answered UCF one more time in the last of the ninth inning to earn the walk-off victory. The freshman Chucka delivered for the second time on the weekend in a pinch-hit role by leading off the inning with a clutch solo home run to left-center to tie the game. The homer marked the first of his collegiate career.
STEPHEN CHUCKA DOES IT AGAIN!!!
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 16, 2026
What a time for your first collegiate HR ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/zmKeAHdLJE
Following back-to-back outs, Andrew Williamson connected with a two-out single to put the winning run on the basepaths. The senior Crespo then followed with a single of his own to move Williamson all the way to third base. With the winning run just 90 feet away, the fellow senior Moran hit a to the right side of the infield that K-State’s first baseman Ty Smolinski managed to get to but his throw to the pitcher covering the bag at first was behind him resulting in a walk-off win for the Knights.
Moran is the hero, as Williamson scores the winning run!!
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 16, 2026
That gives us win No. 19 in league play, the most in the Big 12 era and most conference wins since 2005❗ pic.twitter.com/bIT1DCL3c9
Moran led UCF on the day in his final collegiate home game by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a double. The freshman Lodise drove in a game-high three runs by going 1-for-3 with a double. The senior Crespo homered and had two hits in his final home game while Williamson also had a two-hit performance. Smolinski paced K-State by going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two walks.
Freshman Max Murray earned the win after tossing a clean ninth inning to improve to 5-2 on the season. K-State’s James Guyette was tagged with the loss to drop to 6-4. Rosado had a strong performance in relief for UCF by tossing 3.1 scoreless frames in which he struck out two and allowed just three hits.
The walk-off victory marked UCF’s fifth of the season, with all five of those coming in the final game of a weekend series.
UCF won seven of its 10 conference series on the season with three league series wins coming at home and four on the road. Of the seven Big 12 series victories, five were against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.
On Deck
The Knights will next head to Surprise, Arizona, to compete for a Big 12 tournament title at the 2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament Presented by Allstate. The event will run May 19-23 at Surprise Stadium, and the Black and Gold will open play in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, May 21 at noon EDT/9 a.m. MST. UCF will open their 2026 Big 12 Tournament run against the No. 5 seed and 21st-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys.