Baseball Drops Opener to No. 19 Arizona State, Saturday’s Game Moved Up to 1 p.m.Baseball Drops Opener to No. 19 Arizona State, Saturday’s Game Moved Up to 1 p.m.

Baseball Drops Opener to No. 19 Arizona State, Saturday’s Game Moved Up to 1 p.m.

by James Warnick
Box Score

ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team dropped the series opener to No. 19 Arizona State by a score of 9-4 on Friday night at John Euliano Park.

The Knights homered three times in the contest, but it wasn’t enough, as ASU outhit the Black and Gold 15-8 in the contest. UCF will look to even the series on Saturday at 1 p.m., as the contest has been moved up in the day due to expected inclement weather in the Orlando area that evening.

UCF dropped to 26-16 overall and into a tie for third place in the Big 12 standings with a 14-8 league record. ASU improved to 32-14 on the season and 15-7 in conference play to currently sit in second place.

“I thought we had a great offensive plan coming in. We had some competitive at-bats early, but (ASU’s Cole) Carlon adjusted and I thought that we didn’t do a good enough job to adjust on our end to what he was doing,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said.  

UCF jumped out to a quick 2-0 advantage thanks to back-to-back first-inning home runs from Zak Skinner and Javier Crespo. The senior catcher Skinner blasted a solo shot to deep left field that traveled 427 feet for his fourth round tripper of the season. The fellow senior Crespo followed him up with a solo home run of his own to left field. Crespo’s homer traveled 357 feet and marked his third of the year. The back-to-back home runs marked the fourth time the Knights have accomplished the feat in their last seven games.

The Sun Devils responded with three runs in the second and three more in the third to take a 6-2 lead. Garrett Michel had the big hit of the second inning with a solo home run. ASU then loaded the bases in the third and managed to tack three more runs that frame to add its lead.

With Anthony Lariz and Max Murray providing solid relief work for the Black and Gold in the middle innings, the Knights got a run back in the fourth and another in the seventh to pull within 7-4. Landon Moran started off the last of the fourth with a double and DeAmez Ross later drove him home with an RBI single to left field. Then in the bottom of the seventh, John Smith III hit out his team-leading 11th home run of the season to straight away center field. Smith III’s homer was a line drive rocket clocked at 106 MPH off the bat.

With UCF putting the pressure on, ASU responded with a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning to extend its lead to 9-4. The Sun Devils scored their first run of the frame on a safety squeeze and added another on an RBI single from PJ Moutzouridis.

The Knights loaded the bases with two away in the last of the eighth on a single from JD Rogers and walks from Jordan Lodise and Austin Jacobs, but ASU reliever Sean Fitzpatrick came on and pitched out of it by drawing an inning-ending groundout. UCF then got a two-out hit from Crespo in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough, as ASU managed to hold on for the victory.

Arizona State starter Cole Carlon moved to 5-2 on the season after allowing three runs on five hits while striking out seven over 5.0 innings. UCF’s Mateo Gray was tagged with his first loss of the season to drop to 5-1. Freshmen Lariz and Murray pitched well for the Black and Gold in relief by combining to allow just two runs on five hits over 4.1 innings. Murray struck out a season-high six batters during his outing, which included striking out the side in the sixth inning. UCF senior infielder Braden Calise also had a nice outing in his first collegiate appearance on the mound by tossing a scoreless ninth frame.

Offensively, Crespo led the Black and Gold by going 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Skinner and Smith III also homered for the Knights on the evening. Nu’u Contrades led the Sun Devils by going 4-for-6 with three runs batted in while his teammate Moutzouridis also drove in a trio of runs.

The contest marked the first all-time meeting between UCF and ASU. It also marked UCF’s fourth and final Space Game of the 2026 season in which the team donned its Canaveral Blue uniforms for National Space Day.

On Deck

UCF and ASU will continue the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. The two will then close the weekend set on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will air live on ESPN+.