The Gators dropped their first midweek game to move to 11-2 on the season.
ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 7 Florida lost its first midweek contest of the season, dropping a 13-3 decision to UCF at John Euliano Park on Tuesday night.
Despite a leadoff single from Hayden Yost in the opening frame, the Gators (11-2) came up empty in the first. The Knights (9-3) wasted no time opening the scoring in the home half, as Andrew Williamson hit a two-run homer to left to open a 2-0 lead.
Florida got both runs right back in the top of the second, tying the game at 2-2. Brody Donay started it off with a single to right, then advanced on a Landon Stripling walk. From there, Luke Heyman and Blake Cyr produced RBI singles to left and center, respectively, to plate a pair of runs.
Gators starting hurler Matthew Jenkins rebounded for zeros in the second and third while registering his first three strikeouts. The score held until the home half of the fourth, when Lex Boedicker tripled to left-center and came home on a single to center from Braden Calise to make it 3-2.
In the top of the fifth, Florida nearly knotted it back up. After Bobby Boser reached on a two-out throwing error at shortstop, Colby Shelton doubled into the left-field corner, but the former was thrown out at home attempting to score the tying run on the play.
UCF grabbed momentum from the out at home, as Edian Espinal blasted a three-run shot to right to give the Knights a 6-2 advantage after five frames. The Knights tacked on four more in the sixth, using a bases-loaded walk by Dylan King and two-run single off the bat of DeAmez for the first three runs. Espinal then doubled home King for a 10-2 Knights lead through six.
Following a scoreless seventh, UCF added a trio of late runs in the eighth to bring the score to 13-2. Ross singled home Antonio Jimenez while King was plated on a 6-3 double play hit by Espinal. Boedicker drove in the Knights’ final run with a single through the right side.
The Gators showed life in the ninth, cutting the final tally to 13-3. Leading off the inning, Brendan Lawson launched an opposite-field homer down the left-field line for his third of the season.
Knights reliever Dominic Castellano (2-0) registered the victory after firing 3 2/3 shutout frames. He finished with one hit allowed, two walks and three strikeouts.
UF starter Matthew Jenkins (0-1) received the loss. He threw a career-high 3 1/3 innings with three runs allowed (two earned) on two hits and one walk. The right-hander struck out four.
UCF starting hurler Angelo Smith did not factor into the decision, lasting 1 1/3 frames and allowing two earned runs on four hits and one walk. He fanned one batter.
NOTABLES
* Making his first-career start, Jenkins logged a career-high 3 1/3 innings and struck out four.
* Lawson went 2-for-3 and connected for his third homer of the campaign.
* Florida has launched a homer in all 13 games.
* The Gators have already stolen 30 bases this season, equating to 70% of their 2024 total (43).
* Florida pitchers have produced a 156-to-38 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 13 games.
* Florida leads the all-time series against UCF, 28-22, and is 8-8 in Orlando after tonight.
* The Gators are 11-9 overall and 3-5 on the road in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
* Tuesday’s official attendance was 4,204, marking the second-largest crowd in the history of John Euliano Park.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the game…
“Yeah, I thought Matt [Jenkins] threw the ball good. I thought Christian [Rodriguez] threw the ball good, but the middle innings got us with Luke [McNeillie] and Niko [Janssens]. You know, we didn’t swing the bat particularly well tonight either, so… everybody kind of had a hand in this one.”
On changing up the defensive alignment…
“Well, there’s reasons why we did that. We had to play Brody at first tonight because Luke’s hand was bothering him a little bit from the weekend. So obviously, if we’re DHing him and something happens to Luke, then we lose the DH. And then Nadeau’s groin was bothering him a little bit tonight, so we couldn’t play him at second, so we were forced to make some more moves. So, the moves certainly were not just to make moves. They kind of forced our hand a little bit.”
On the message to the team…
“We just got to play better, simple as that. In all phases. We got another good opponent coming in tomorrow and FAU has gotten off to a good start. So we’re just going to have to play better in all phases.”
UP NEXT
The Gators return home to host Florida Atlantic on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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