Andrew Williamson’s three-homer night puts UCF in control, Knights beat NC State 9-3 in NCAA Regional Opener
Update: UCF quickly took care of business upon the Saturday restart at 12 noon, defeating NC State 9-3.
Andrew Williamson will have to wait overnight to see if the biggest night of his UCF career officially helps send the Knights into the winner’s bracket.
But before lightning, torrential rain and a long delay stopped UCF’s NCAA Regional opener late Friday night, Williamson had already made his mark.
The junior outfielder blasted three home runs and drove in six runs as No. 2 seed UCF built a 9-3 lead over No. 3 seed NC State in the Auburn Regional at Plainsman Park. The game was suspended in the top of the eighth inning with two outs, NC State’s Chris McHugh on second base and UCF four outs away from advancing.
The game, originally scheduled for 6 p.m. ET, was delayed two hours by weather and did not begin until shortly after 8 p.m. ET. A lightning delay hit at 10:45 p.m. ET, followed by heavy rain that forced the tarp onto the field. Shortly before midnight, the game was called for the night.
It is scheduled to resume at 12:02 p.m. ET Saturday.
Williamson carries the night
Williamson entered the regional already as one of UCF’s best bats, tied for the team lead with 12 home runs while leading the Knights in extra-base hits, runs scored, walks, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
He added to all of that in a hurry Friday night.
After NC State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Williamson answered in the bottom half with a two-run homer to right field, cutting the deficit to 3-2 and immediately changing the feel of the game.
UCF tied it in the second on a solo homer from freshman shortstop Jordan Lodise, then took the lead in the third when John Smith III tripled and scored on a Zak Skinner single. Landon Moran later added an RBI single to make it 5-3.
Then Williamson broke the game open.
With DeAmez Ross and Smith aboard in the fifth, Williamson launched a three-run homer to right center, stretching UCF’s lead to 8-3. In the seventh, he added his third blast of the night, a solo shot to right field that gave the Knights a 9-3 cushion before the weather eventually took over.
Williamson was 3-for-4 with three homers, three runs scored and six RBIs when play was stopped. His three home runs pushed his season total to 15, pending the completion of the suspended game.
UCF bullpen keeps NC State quiet
Camden Wicker, UCF’s second-team All-Big 12 starter, had to work through traffic early. NC State scored three runs in the first inning, getting an RBI single from Mikey Ryan and a two-run single from Dalton Bargo.
But UCF avoided further damage from there.
Wicker allowed three runs on seven hits over 3.2 innings, walking five and striking out one. The bullpen then settled the game down.
Kaniel Rosado entered and threw 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk while stranding both inherited runners. Freshman Max Murray followed with 1.2 scoreless innings before the delay, allowing two hits and striking out one.
NC State had several offensive chances but never scored after the first inning.
Regional path now waits until Saturday
If UCF finishes off the win Saturday afternoon, the Knights will advance to the winner’s bracket game against No. 4 seed Milwaukee, which stunned host and No. 1 seed Auburn 13-8 earlier Friday.
That game is currently scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
The loser of the UCF-NC State game will turn around and face Auburn in an elimination game, currently scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
That means UCF could have a quick turnaround if it completes the win over NC State, but that would be a trade the Knights would gladly take.
Postgame Press Conference:
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