The UCF baseball team lost to Milwaukee 13-6 in the NCAA Auburn Regional on May 31 at Plainsman Park, dropping into an elimination game against top-seeded Auburn scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
The Knights, seeded second and holding a 32-22 record, trailed by nine runs before rallying to narrow the deficit. However, Milwaukee maintained its lead and advanced in the winner’s bracket. The Panthers, Horizon League champions with a 27-31 record, will play in Sunday night’s regional final.
“I thought Milwaukee played an unbelievable game offensively. We helped them a little bit off the free stuff, but they capitalized. They played extremely hard, Shaun’s (Wegner) doing a great job there. We’ve got to figure out a way to come back tomorrow,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said.
Milwaukee scored early with two runs in the first inning and added three more in the second and four more in the third for a commanding lead. UCF responded with one run in the fifth and five runs in the sixth inning—including Andrew Williamson’s fourth home run of the weekend—cutting Milwaukee’s lead to four runs at 10-6. Despite this effort, Milwaukee extended its advantage with three insurance runs late in the game.
Evan Jones pitched effectively for UCF out of relief, going a career-long 4.1 innings while allowing just two runs on one hit and striking out five batters—a season high he tied during this outing. Offensively for UCF, Austin Jacobs went 2-for-3 with an RBI double and walk; DeAmez Ross drove in two runs; Williamson set a new program regional record with his fourth home run of this postseason event.
With this loss moving them to 1-1 at Auburn Regional play—following their earlier win over NC State—the Knights now face elimination against host Auburn Tigers on Sunday afternoon.
