Baseball Splits Final Two Games of Series vs. No. 19 Arizona StateBaseball Splits Final Two Games of Series vs. No. 19 Arizona State

Baseball Splits Final Two Games of Series vs. No. 19 Arizona State

by James Warnick
  • Game 1
  • Game 2
Box Score

ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team held on to defeat No. 19 Arizona State, 4-2, in the completion of the second game of the series before dropping the series finale by a score of 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at John Euliano Park.

Senior right-hander Roman Kimball had a stellar outing in the completion of the first game of the day by tossing 4.1 innings of one-run relief. Kimball allowed just one run on three hits while striking out three to earn his first win of the season. Evan Jones then entered in the eighth and recorded his fourth save of the year by escaping a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning.

With the Black and Gold holding a late 3-2 lead in the series finale, ASU rallied to tie it in the eighth and scored three runs in the ninth to claim the series.

The Knights dropped to 27-17 overall on the season with the results and into fourth place in the Big 12 standings with a 15-9 conference record. The 15 league wins marks a program-best since joining the Big 12 Conference prior to the 2024 campaign. The Sun Devils improved to 33-15 overall and into a tie for second place in conference play with a 16-8 league mark.

“Obviously, we got short-started with (Camden) Wicker due to the weather on Saturday. I would have loved to have seen him pitch deeper in the game because his stuff was on. We then had (Kris) Sosnowski go down here when we restarted today and your heart goes out to the kid. He’s battled through so much and we’re hoping that he can make it through this one as well as the rest,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said. “Roman Kimball was then absolutely outstanding. We couldn’t have asked for more out of him, that was great. And then (Evan) Jones battled through the ninth and found a way to win that game.

“Then we came back and competed our tail off for pretty much that whole second game. There were a couple of plays that we needed to make late to give ourselves a chance and unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done.”   

Game Two of the Series

Before play was suspended after two innings following a three-hour weather delay on Saturday, the Knights struck first with a run in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Andrew Williamson led off the frame with a double down the right field line. He later moved to third on a passed ball and came in to score on an RBI single from Zak Skinner.

The Sun Devils responded with a run of their own in the second inning to tie the game. With two on and two out, Beckett Zavorek reached on an infield single, and Dominic Smaldino came in to score from second base on a UCF throwing error. Despite the unearned run coming in, Black and Gold starter Camden Wicker struck out the side in the frame.

After play resumed at the start of the third inning on Sunday, Kris Sosnowski took the bump for the Knights and retired the first two batters, with Jordan Lodise making a slick diving play at shortstop for the first out. However, after a pop out to third baseman Javier Crespo, the senior left the game with discomfort, handing off pitching duties to Kimball.

From there, both sides exchanged scoreless frames until the bottom-half of the fifth. After launching his fourth home run of the season on Friday, Skinner stepped up to the plate and torched the ninth pitch of his at-bat down the left-field line, giving the Knights a 2-1 lead.

With the efforts of a career-performance from Kimball, the Black and Gold sustained their one-run advantage into the eighth, as the senior tossed another pair of scoreless innings.

Looking for some insurance, consecutive singles from Crespo and Landon Moran made way for JD Rogers to send an 1-1 offering into left, bringing home Crespo and doubling the UCF lead.

Kimball ventured into the top of the eighth inning, but was replaced by Evan Jones after a leadoff single, concluding his durable outing with four and a third on the bump, tallying three strikeouts and just one earned run.

The Sun Devils got to Jones a bit early by connecting on a pair of singles to load the bases. With the bases full and no out, Arizona State’s Austen Roellig skied a sacrifice fly to Ross in centerfield, cutting the UCF lead in half.

Needing a big play to escape the jam, a 0-1 pitch from Jones was grounded to Crespo at third, who quickly shifted over for the forceout before firing his throw across the diamond. Moran kept his composure and scooped the ball out of the dirt just a foot in front of him at first, for an inning-ending double play to protect a vital two-run lead into the bottom half.

In the top of the ninth, Jones once again found himself with his back against the wall, walking Matt Polk before giving up two singles with one out to load the bases once again. In similar fashion to the eighth, Jones kept his cool, retiring one of the nation’s top hitters Landon Hairston on a shallow fly out to Ross in center which kept the runner at third, before forcing Nu’u Contrades into a pop out to Lodise at short, slamming the door shut and evening the series for the Knights.

Kimball earned the win on the mound to move to 1-1 on the season while Jones picked up his fourth save to tie for the team lead. ASU’s Alex Overbay was tagged with the loss to drop to 1-2.

Crespo led the way offensively by going a season-high 4-for-4 in the contest with four singles and a run scored. Skinner followed by going 2-for-4 with a home run and a game-high two runs batted in.

Game Three of the Series

Freshman Kaniel Rosado took the bump for UCF in the rubber match, garnering his second start of his young collegiate career. In just two at-bats, the Sun Devils took the early lead, as Contrades blasted a two-run homer to left-center field.

Arizona State’s Colin Linder got the starting nod for the visitors and shut the Knights down across his first two frames. As for Rosado, the Central Florida native settled in, giving up no hits across his next 2.2 innings of work.

In the bottom half of the third, consecutive singles from Williamson and John Smith III put runners on base with one out. After a fielder’s choice advanced the tandem a base, Linder launched his 1-0 offering to the backstop, bringing in Williamson from third to cut the Sun Devil lead in half.

After placing two on base in the top of the fourth, fellow freshman Anthony Lariz entered from the pen and struck out Brody Briggs to strand the pair of Arizona State runners. While the UCF bats went quiet for the next few innings, Lariz gave up just one hit across his career-high three frames of work, striking out a season-high four in the process.

The Knights finally found the leveler in the bottom half of the sixth, courtesy a DeAmez Ross doubled down the line which brought in the speedy JD Rogers all the way from first base. After a pair of hit batters in the top of the seventh, Lariz handed the ball off to Kevin Schoneboom, who forced a fly out to send the Black and Gold into the bottom half.

With the batting order back to the top, Williams drew a walk before Smith III was plunked, once again putting the tandem on base with no outs. After a fielder’s choice advanced them each a bag, Crespo took a fastball to the back to load the bases. With Moran at the plate, Arizona State opted for the southpaw Sean Fitzpatrick. After taking a pair of pitches, Moran drove a ball to deep left center, bringing home Williamson and giving the Knights the lead.

The advantage was short lived, however, as the Sun Devils responded in the eighth inning. Arizona State tied the contest on a fielder’s choice to Schoneboom, who opted to throw the groundball to second base in hopes of turning a double play, though the ball ricocheted off the runner and into the outfield, bringing in the game-tying run.

ASU then looked to get something going in the top of the ninth inning as two men reached the base paths with one away following the single and a hit batter. Dean Toigo then gave the Sun Devils the late lead with an RBI double to right field. Following a UCF pitching change, ASU’s Roellig drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and Dominic Smaldino capped the scoring with an RBI single to give Arizona State the late 6-3 advantage.

Skinner then got a one-out hit for the Knights in the last of the ninth, but ASU reliever Derek Schaefer responded by drawing a game-ending double play ball to seal the victory for the visitors.

Schaefer earned the win in relief for ASU to improve to 1-1 on the season while Schoneboom was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-2.

Lodise led the Knights at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double, while Smith III finished 2-for-4 and Ross went 1-for-3 with an RBI double. Contrades paced ASU with a 2-for-3 outing with two RBIs and two runs scored.

The series marked UCF’s first-ever contests against the Sun Devils.

On Deck

After splitting four games in the Sunshine State this week, the Knights will now open their final road trip of the regular season with a midweek game at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton on Tuesday, May 5 at 6 p.m. Following the FAU game, the Black and Gold will head to Waco, Texas, for their final Big 12 road series on the season at Baylor next weekend.