ORLANDO – The UCF baseball team will travel to Waco, Texas, this week for its final road conference series of the season at Baylor.
The three-game Big 12 series will run Friday to Sunday at Baylor Ballpark. Friday’s opener is set for 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT, while Saturday is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT and Sunday is slated for 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. All three games will air live on ESPN+ as well as on the radio at FM 96.9 The Game and the iHeartRadio app. Live stats can also be followed by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com.
The Knights will enter the weekend in fourth place in the Big 12 standings with a 27-18 overall record and a 15-9 league mark. The 15 conference wins mark the most league wins for UCF since joining the Big 12 Conference prior to the 2024 campaign. The Black and Gold will enter Friday having won six of their last nine games and currently receiving votes for this week’s NCBWA Top 25 Poll.
After sweeping Utah in Salt Lake City two weeks ago, UCF dropped two of three to No. 19 Arizona State at home last weekend and followed that up with a 6-5 setback at in-state foe Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton on Tuesday.
In last weekend’s series against ASU, UCF hit out back-to-back first-inning home runs from Zak Skinner and Javier Crespo in Friday’s opener to give the Knights an early lead. ASU then responded with three runs in the second inning and three more in the third inning en route to pulling out the opener by a score of 9-4.
The second game of the series then got underway on Saturday afternoon, but play was halted due to weather tied at 1-1 after two innings of play. After a three-hour delay, the game was then suspended and resumed at 1 p.m. on Sunday. When play resumed on Sunday, Roman Kimball entered on the mound following an apparent injury to Kris Sosnowski. Kimball had a strong outing in relief in which he tossed 4.1 innings and allowed just one run on three hits while striking out three to give the Knights a chance.
With UCF holding to a late 4-2 lead, Evan Jones then came on and managed to pitch out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning and another in the ninth to earn the save. Crespo led the offense in the game by going a season-high 4-for-4 in the game while Skinner homered for the second straight game and drove in a pair of runs.
In a bullpen game for both teams in the series finale on Sunday afternoon, the Black and Gold bullpen managed to limit the Sun Devil offense to just a couple of hits for the majority of the game. With UCF holding to a late 3-2 lead following an RBI double from DeAmez Ross in the sixth and a go-ahead sacrifice fly from Landon Moran in the seventh, ASU managed to respond with a run in the eighth to tie it and three more in the ninth to claim the finale and the series.
The senior third baseman Crespo led UCF in the series by batting .545 with a homer, two scored and an RBI. Senior designated hitter JD Rogers was next by hitting an even .500 while freshman shortstop Jordan Lodise hit .455 with a double. Right-handers Anthony Lariz and Kimball had strong performances on the mound in the series in relief, as the redshirt freshman Lariz gave up just one run on four hits while striking out four over 4.2 innings in two appearances and Kimball earned the win in game two after surrendering just one run on three hits over 4.1 innings.
The Knights then took an early 4-0 lead at FAU on Tuesday with four second inning runs, but the Owls responded by scoring six of the next seven runs to top UCF by a score of 6-5.
The senior Ross led the Black and Gold at the plate on Tuesday by going 2-for-4 with a run scored, while freshman catcher Dallas Brooks went 1-for-3 with a season-high two RBIs. Crespo too had a nice game by going 1-for-3 with a double.
Season Leaders
Senior catcher Skinner paces UCF on the season with a .361 average and 60 hits. He is also second in RBIs with 36. Senior third baseman Crespo is next with a .324 average, while senior outfielder John Smith III is right behind him with a .323 clip. Smith III also tops the team in home runs with 11 and RBIs with 42. Junior outfielder Andrew Williamson follows with a .318 average and team-leading tallies of 25 extra-base hits and 48 runs scored. Junior right-hander Camden Wicker tops the starting rotation with a 4-2 record, 3.38 ERA, and 52 strikeouts in 56.0 innings. A trio of right-handers lead the way from the bullpen in Kris Sosnowski (2.10 ERA, 4 SV), Evan Jones (3.00 ERA, 4 SV) and Kevin Schoneboom (3.27 ERA, 1 SV).
About Baylor
The Bears will enter the weekend with a 25-23 overall record and tied for ninth in the conference standings with an 11-13 mark. Baylor has won three of its last five games after taking two of three from Texas Tech at home last weekend. BU also holds Big 12 series wins on the year over Houston and BYU. In their most recent game on Tuesday, the Bears fell to Texas State in midweek action by a score of 9-6.
Baylor was picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 this season after going 33-22 overall and 13-17 in league play in 2025 to tie for ninth.
Travis Sanders leads BU on the season with a .368 batting average. He also leads in stolen bases with 24 and is second in runs scored with 38. First baseman Tyce Armstrong is next with a .335 average and leads the way in the power numbers with 21 homers, 14 doubles, 58 RBIs and 41 runs scored. Armstrong is Perfect Game’s reigning National Player of the Week, the NCBWA’s Hitter of the Week, and was named to Baseball America’s National Team of the Week after hitting five home runs last week. Right-hander Lucas Davenport leads the starting rotation with a 5-2 record, 3.96 ERA, and 64 strikeouts in 52.1 innings pitched. Caleb Bunch paces the bullpen with a team-best six saves. He also holds a 4-2 record, 3.31 ERA, and 38 punchouts in 32.2 innings.
Baylor is coached by head coach Mitch Thompson. Thompson is in his fourth season at the helm at BU and recently surpassed 100 wins in Waco.
All-Time Series vs. Baylor
Friday’s series opener will mark the seventh all-time meeting between the Knights and Bears. The series is currently all tied up at 3-3. UCF first took two of three in Waco in 2024, but BU responded by taking two of three in Orlando last season. The Knights won the most recent meeting, however, by defeating the Bears 11-7 in the regular-season finale last year.
Wicker Tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week
Junior right-hander Camden Wicker was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week last week after tossing a seven-inning complete-game shutout on April 25 at Utah. Wicker tied a career-long by tossing 7.0 dominant innings in which he allowed just two hits and no runs while striking out five and walking just two. He allowed just four baserunners to reach in the contest and faced the minimum in three of his seven innings of work.
Ranked Knights
By entering the top 25 on March 30, the Knights have now been ranked in each of head coach Rich Wallace’s three seasons at the helm of UCF baseball. In his first year in 2024, Wallace helped the Black and Gold spend two weeks in the national rankings in early April and ranked as high as No. 17 by D1Baseball and 16th by the NCBWA. Last season, the Knights spent a week ranked 25th by Perfect Game in mid-March. UCF is 8-14 when ranked in the Rich Wallace era.
After entering the D1Baseball rankings at No. 23 on March 30, the Knights moved up 11 spots to No. 12 the following week in the D1Baseball rankings. After being ranked No. 21 three weeks ago, the Knights are currently just outside of the top 25 this week and receiving votes for the NCBWA Top 25 Poll. UCF claimed its first ranked vs. ranked series at WVU since May 18-20, 2017, with No. 29 UCF took two of three from No. 23 South Florida in American Conference action. It also marked the Black and Gold’s first series victory over a ranked foe since April 17-19, 2025, when it took two of three from No. 15 TCU at John Euliano Park.
Williamson Tabbed Perfect Game National Player of the Week
After his big series at WVU April 3-5, junior outfielder Andrew Williamson was named the Perfect Game College Baseball National Player of the Week. Williamson helped lead the Knights to a big series win at No. 11 WVU by hitting .600 for the series with three home runs, a double, six runs scored and three RBIs. He also drew five walks and posted a stellar 2.333 OPS with a 1.600 slugging percentage and a .733 on-base clip.
He posted his first two-homer game since his freshman season by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored a pair of home runs in a 5-0 victory on Friday. After going 1-for-3 with three walks and a run scored on Saturday, he capped the impressive weekend by going 2-for-3 with a home run, two walks and two runs scored in a 5-1 victory on Sunday to help the Black and Gold capture the pivotal conference series.
Cardiac Knights
With Sunday, March 29’s walk-off win over Arizona, the Knights pulled out four walk-off victories all on Sundays over a five-week span. The Knights started the stretch with a 2-1 walk-off win over in-state foe South Florida in the series finale on March 1. With the game all deadlocked at 2-1 heading into the last of the ninth, UCF quickly loaded the bases with nobody out. Zak Skinner then worked a full count with the bases loaded and came through with a sharp single through the right side of the infield to give the Knights the walk-off 2-1 victory.
Trailing 9-4 entering the bottom of the ninth against Murray State on Sunday March 8, the Knights put together a last-inning rally for the ages by scoring six runs to record their second walk-off win of the streak. UCF again quickly loaded the bases with nobody out. Javier Crespo started the scoring with an RBI single, and John Smith III came in to score on a wild pitch. James Hankerson Jr. then made it a 9-8 score with a two-run pinch hit single and Jordan Lodise evened the score with a safety squeeze. After a sac bunt moved the winning run to third base with only one out, Cayden Gaskin delivered a walk-off pinch-hit RBI single to left center to complete the epic comeback.
UCF kept the Sunday walk-off streak alive with by pulling out a 6-5 walk-off win over Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 15, to record its first Big 12 series sweep since joining the conference prior to the 2024 season. After OK State tied things up in the top of the ninth, the Black and Gold offense didn’t waste any time rallying as Landon Moran quickly reached with a sharp leadoff single into right field. DeAmez Ross then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position and James Hankerson Jr. plated Moran with a walk-off RBI single through the right side of the infield on the first pitch of the at-bat.
The Knights then pulled out their fourth Sunday walk-off win on Sunday, March 29, with a 3-2 13-inning victory. All tied at 2-2 since the eighth inning, Cayden Gaskin doubled into the leftfield corner with one away. Following an intentional walk to John Smith III, the Knights then called upon freshman Stephen Chucka to pinch hit. The hometown kid delivered the game-winning hit with a walk-off RBI single through the right side of the infield to bring in Gaskin and complete the sweep over the 2025 College World Series Wildcats.
On Deck
Following this weekend’s series, UCF will return home for its final four games of the regular season next week. The Knights will first host Bethune-Cookman in midweek action on Tuesday (May 12) before welcoming Kansas State to town for its final Big 12 series of the season next Thursday to Saturday (May 14-16). The 2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament will then take place the following week at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona.
