No. 12 UCF Baseball swept at Kansas, drops out of first place

No. 12 UCF Baseball went to Kansas riding plenty of momentum. The Knights had won four straight Big 12 series, had just taken two of three at then-No. 11 West Virginia and entered the weekend alone atop the conference standings. Andrew Williamson had even been named Perfect Game’s National Player of the Week after his huge series in Morgantown.

By Saturday night in Lawrence, though, that momentum was gone.

Instead of building on their best stretch of the season, the Knights were swept in all three games by the Jayhawks, falling 4-3 in 11 innings on Friday before dropping both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader, 6-3 and 3-1. The result knocked UCF out of first place in the Big 12 standings, dropping the Knights to 10-5 in league play while Kansas moved into sole possession of first at 12-3.

Friday opener slips away in extras

The opener was the kind of game UCF has often found a way to win during its rise up the standings.

The Knights grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, cashing in after Kansas committed a pair of errors, but failed to deliver a bigger blow by leaving the bases loaded. They tied the game in the sixth when DeAmez Ross doubled, Jordan Lodise moved him over with a sacrifice bunt and Austin Jacobs delivered an RBI single. Then, after trailing again late, UCF forced extra innings in the ninth when Williamson reached on an error, John Smith III drew a walk and Zak Skinner came through with a game-tying RBI single.

But UCF could not finish it.

Kansas walked it off in the 11th after opening the inning with a walk and a hit batter, then moving both runners up with a sacrifice bunt before Max Soliz Jr. lined the winning single to left. Soliz was a problem throughout the weekend, and he hurt the Knights again Friday after also driving in the go-ahead run in the sixth with an RBI double.

For UCF, Friday felt like a missed chance. The Knights got enough pitching to stay in it and enough late offense to extend it, but Kansas made one more play in the biggest moment.

Kansas jumps UCF’s starters on Saturday

The doubleheader only deepened the theme.

In Game 1, Kansas got to Camden Wicker early. Soliz launched a two-run homer in the second inning, and the Jayhawks broke the game open in the third when Josh Dykhoff ripped a three-run double to deep center for a 5-0 lead. That was more than enough cushion for Kansas starter Dominic Voegele, who largely kept UCF quiet into the late innings. Wicker only lasted 2.2 innings.

The Knights did show some fight. Ross got UCF on the board with an RBI triple in the seventh, and UCF made things interesting in the eighth when Cayden Gaskin walked, Jacobs singled, Williamson walked, Smith drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Dallas Brooks added an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-3. But that was as close as UCF got. Kansas answered immediately in the bottom half, using a throwing error by Jacobs to help manufacture an insurance run on a sacrifice fly.

That sequence summed up a frustrating day for the Knights. Every time UCF created a little pressure, Kansas had an answer.

The second game of the day and series finale followed a similar script, only with even less margin for error.

Matt Sauser, who missed his past two weekend starts with a back injury, gave up a first-inning run after Kansas turned a leadoff infield single and a Williamson throwing error into an early 1-0 lead. UCF answered in the third when Ross bunted his way on, advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt, moved to third on Lodise’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Gaskin’s RBI single. But Kansas punched right back in the bottom of the inning with two more runs, getting an RBI single from Cade Baldridge and a sacrifice fly from Augusto Mungarrieta to reclaim control at 3-1.

And again, UCF’s offense could not deliver the one big swing it needed.

What’s next

UCF returns home to host Jacksonville on Tuesday at 6 p.m., then welcomes Cincinnati to town for another important Big 12 series next weekend.