The UCF baseball team defeated No. 19 Arizona State, 4-2, in the second game of their series before falling in the finale, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon at John Euliano Park.
The results are significant as they move the Knights to a 27-17 overall record and fourth place in the Big 12 standings with a program-best 15 conference wins since joining the league prior to the 2024 campaign. Arizona State improved to a tie for second place with a record of 33-15 and a conference mark of 16-8.
Senior right-hander Roman Kimball played an important role by pitching over four innings of one-run relief and earning his first win of the season. Evan Jones secured his fourth save after escaping late-inning threats from Arizona State. “Roman Kimball was then absolutely outstanding. We couldn’t have asked for more out of him, that was great. And then (Evan) Jones battled through the ninth and found a way to win that game,” head UCF coach Rich Wallace said.
In game three, freshman Kaniel Rosado started for UCF but gave up an early home run as Arizona State took an initial lead. The Knights managed to tie it up later in the contest before ASU rallied in the eighth and ninth innings to secure victory. “Then we came back and competed our tail off for pretty much that whole second game. There were a couple of plays that we needed to make late to give ourselves a chance and unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done,” Wallace said.
The series marked UCF’s first-ever contests against Arizona State.
Looking ahead, UCF will begin its final road trip of the regular season with a midweek matchup at Florida Atlantic on Tuesday, May 5 at 6 p.m., followed by their last Big 12 road series at Baylor next weekend.
