Baseball Drops Game Two to K-State, Rubber Match Set for Saturday AfternoonBaseball Drops Game Two to K-State, Rubber Match Set for Saturday Afternoon

Baseball Drops Game Two to K-State, Rubber Match Set for Saturday Afternoon

by James Warnick
Box Score

ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team rallied for four runs in the seventh inning but couldn’t complete the comeback, as Kansas State held on to take game two by a score of 5-4 to even the series on Friday night at John Euliano Park.

Despite the loss, the Knights have secured a top six seed for next week’s Big 12 Tournament and will receive a double bye into the quarterfinal round of the event. The Black and Gold are currently 30-20 overall and in a tie for third place in the standings with an 18-11 record with just one game remaining. K-State improved to 28-25 overall and 11-18 in league play with the victory.

“I’m proud of the fight. We just needed to adjust to their starting pitcher. I’ve seen him do that to other teams before, and obviously I didn’t have our guys prepared enough to have a plan to execute against him for the first few innings,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said.  

Deadlocked in a pitcher’s duel through five scoreless innings between UCF starter Camden Wicker and K-State’s Lincoln Sheffield, the Wildcats were the first to get on the scoreboard with a solo home run from Ty Smolinski that broke up Wicker’s no-hit bid in the top of the sixth. The Wildcats later got a double from Grant Gallagher, but he was stranded on the base paths, as Wicker responded with three straight outs.

Kansas State then made it 5-0 with two more home runs in the top of the seventh inning. AJ Evasco hit a two-run homer to right field and Smolinski followed two batters later by pulling out his second home run of the game with a two-run shot to right to give the Wildcats some breathing room.

The Black and Gold offense then responded with the last of the seventh with four runs to pull within a run at 5-4. On UCF’s Senior Knight, senior Cayden Gaskin led off the frame with a single. Jordan Lodise then worked a walk, and Austin Jacobs ripped an RBI single to left field to score Gaskin and put the Knights on the board. Following a lineout and a fielder’s choice, Andrew Williamson drove in two more runs with a double into the left field corner to make it 5-3. Senior Zak Skinner immediately followed by plating Williamson with an RBI single up the middle to cap the scoring in the inning.

UCF relievers Zachary Malvasio and Anthony Lariz combined to strand a pair of runners in the top of the eighth, but the Black and Gold offense went down in order in the bottom of the inning to send it to the ninth.

Lariz continued to pitch well in relief by retiring the Wildcats in order in the top of the ninth. But K-State’s Cohen Feser came on and sat the Knights down in order in the last of the ninth to seal the victory for the Wildcats.

Kansas State’s Sheffield earned the win after allowing just three runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings to improve to 7-3 on the year. Despite not allowing a hit until the sixth inning, Wicker was tagged with the loss to drop to 5-3. K-State’s Feser earned his third save of the season.

Offensively, four Knights notched two hits apiece on the night led by Skinner and Jacobs each going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Javier Crespo and Gaskin each added two hits, as three of the four multiple-hit performers were seniors. Williamson also had a nice outing by driving in a team-best two runs. Smolinski paced the Wildcats with two home runs and a game home three runs batted in.

The contest marked Senior Knight for UCF, as 13 seniors were honored prior to first pitch. The seniors included pitchers Roman Kimball, Kevin Schoneboom and Kris Sosnowski; catchers Zak Skinner and Mason Wilson; infielders Braden Calise, Javier Crespo, Cayden Gaskin and Landon Moran; and outfielders Noah Rabin, JD Rogers, DeAmez Ross and John Smith III.

“This is a special group. You start with (Kris) Sosnowski. In the world of today’s college baseball, it is rare for someone to stick around for five years, and that guy is a true Knight. He’s a leader on and off the field. He’s an absolute warrior,” Wallace added. “Then there’s players like DeAmez Ross. I’ve coached him for three of his four years in college. You can go up and down the list. They’ve all bought in to what we’ve been trying to do as well as that the UCF on the front of their chest means something to them. This is a really special group.” 

On Deck

The Knights and Wildcats will close the series with the regular-season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. UCF will try to claim its seventh Big 12 series of the season and secure a as high as the No. 3 seed for next week’s Big 12 Tournament. The 2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament Presented by Allstate will run May 19-23 at Surprise Stadium and Surprise, Arizona. The Knights will open the tournament in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, May 21.