ORLANDO – After playing six straight games on the road, the No. 21 UCF baseball team will return to John Euliano Park to open a four-game homestand this week on Tuesday against Jacksonville.

The in-state midweek contest will begin at 6 p.m. and air live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available via UCF.StatBroadcast.com.

The Knights (20-12, 10-5 Big 12) will enter the week in a tie for second place in the Big 12 standings and ranked 21st nationally on this week’s D1Baseball Top 25 Poll. UCF is also ranked 24th this week by Perfect Game and receiving votes for both the USA TODAY Coaches and NCBWA polls. This marks the third straight week that the Black and Gold have been ranked in the top 25.  

After taking two of three from then-No. 11 West Virginia in Morgantown two weeks ago, the Knights dropped a trio of tightly contested contests at Kansas over the weekend to fall in a tie for second place in the league standings. KU claimed the games by scores of 4-3 in 11 innings, 6-3, and 3-1.

Trailing 3-2 entering the ninth inning in the series opener on Friday, the Knights managed to put together a two-out rally to tie things up and force extra innings. Andrew Williamson started the rally by reaching on an error and John Smith III followed by working a walk to put the tying run in scoring position. Zak Skinner then tied things up by delivering a clutch two-out RBI single to deadlock the score at 3-3.

UCF closer Evan Jones then tossed a pair of shutout innings in relief to send it to the 11th. After the Knights were held scoreless in the top of the 11th inning, KU managed to rally in the last of the 11th to win it.

With inclement weather forecasted for Sunday, the Knights and Jayhawks then played a Saturday doubleheader. Kansas built an early 5-0 lead in the first game of the twin bill on Saturday en route to pulling out a 6-3 victory in that one. DeAmez Ross plated UCF’s first run of the game in the seventh with an RBI triple, and the Knights added two more runs in the eighth with a sac fly from Smith III and a big RBI single from freshman catcher Dallas Brooks in his first collegiate at-bat. KU responded with an insurance run in the last of the eighth and closed it out in the ninth to take the contest.

In a tightly contested nightcap and series finale, UCF evened the score at 1-1 in the third inning via an RBI single from Cayden Gaskin. The Jayhawks countered with two runs in the bottom of the third to regain a 3-1 lead. The Knights had strong pitching the rest of the way, as relievers Kris Sosnowski, Matthew Heyl, Kevin Schoneboom, Anthony Lariz and Jones allowed just two hits and no runs over the final 5.2 innings to give UCF a chance. Down to their last at-bat, the Black and Gold then got two runners on with two outs in the ninth inning and Austin Jacobs hit a ball to shallow right field on a 3-2 count. But KU’s Jordan Bach managed to reach down and make the catch just before the ball hit the turf to seal the sweep for Kansas.

The senior outfielder Ross led UCF in the series by hitting .385 with two doubles, one triple, two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base. The catcher Skinner was next by batting .364 with an RBI, while Gaskin followed with a .286 clip and an RBI. Sophomore Mateo Gray led the Black and Gold’s starting rotation by allowing just three earned runs on seven hits while striking out five over 5.2 innings. The bullpen was also strong for the Knights, as seven of the eight relievers that saw action in the series tossed scoreless outings in Roman Kimball, Heyl, Jones, Kaniel Rosado, Sosnowski, Kevin Schoneboom and Lariz.

Season Leaders

Senior catch Zak Skinner leads the Black and Gold at the plate on the season with a .357 average. He is also third on the team in RBIs with 23. Senior outfielder John Smith III is next with a .350 clip. He is second on the team in doubles (7), home runs (5) and RBIs (26). Junior outfielder Andrew Williamson follows with a .328 average and leads the team in doubles, (8), triples (4), home runs (9), extra-base hits (21), runs (37), RBIs (28), walks (22), and slugging (.672). Junior right-hander Matt Sauser fronts the team with a 1.48 ERA, while fellow righty Camden Wicker is 3-2 with a 3.43 ERA and paces the team in strikeouts (34) and innings pitched (42.0). Kris Sosnowski (2.16 ERA, 2 SV), Kevin Schoneboom (2.21 ERA) and Evan Jones (2.83 ERA, 2 SV) front the bullpen.

About Jacksonville

The Dolphins will come to Orlando with a 17-18 overall record and a 6-9 clip in ASUN play to sit in a tie for fourth place in their division. JU has won five of its last seven games after taking back-to-back conference series over Stetson and FGCU. Jacksonville also holds a win during the stretch over No. 21 Florida in Gainesville.

The Dolphins were picked to finish third in the ASUN Graphite Division this year after going 30-26 and posting a second-place finish in the ASUN Graphite Division in 2025.

Roger Vergara leads JU on the season with a .326 average. He is also tops in runs scored with 30 and second in RBIs with 30. Sammy Mammau is next with a .292 average while Cade Walter leads the team in the power numbers with seven doubles and seven home runs, and Derek Bermudez leads in RBIs with 31. Brendan Holland fronts the starting rotation with a 3.02 ERA and 45 strikeouts, while Alex Walsh is 5-3 with 43 punchouts in a team-high 46.0 innings. Ayden Phillips is one of JU’s top relievers with a 2-0 record, 2.30 ERA and two saves.

Jacksonville is coached by Chris Hayes. Hayes is in his 10th season at the helm of the Dolphins and holds a 268-245 record.

All-Time Series vs. Jacksonville

Tuesday’s contest between UCF and JU will mark the 95th all-time meeting and the first of the season between the Sunshine State foes. The two previously had an earlier season meeting postponed due to a stadium lighting issue at JU’s John Sessions Stadium. The Knights will enter play holding to a 51-43 all-time advantage. UCF also holds a 25-14 record with games played in Orlando and the two have split the last two meetings. 

Williamson Tabbed Perfect Game National Player of the Week

After his big series at WVU April 3-5, junior outfielder Andrew Williamson was been 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.

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 7-11 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 last week in the D1Baseball rankings. The Black and Gold checks in at No. 21 this week after dropping the series at KU last week. 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.

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 Tuesday’s midweek, the Knights will host their lone home Big 12 series of the month this weekend when Cincinnati visits John Euliano Park. The series will run Friday to Sunday with games set for 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday as well as noon on Sunday. After this week’s action UCF will hit the road for four games next week beginning with a midweek in Daytona Beach to face Bethune-Cookman.