Knight Cap: Baseball Wins Midweek, Jones Goes to NCAA Indoors

This past week of UCF Knights saw one team continue its momentum built up on the road, a Track athlete get selected to a national competition, and two teams have mixed fortunes out on the court over the weekend. Plus, we name the Knight of the Week in your Knight Cap for Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

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Baseball one-hits Bethune-Cookman

The UCF Baseball team extended its road win streak to four games Tuesday night after the Knights trounced Bethune-Cookman, 9-0.

While Dominic Castellano was credited with the win in relief, he gave up the only hit the Wildcats got on the night. The Knights’ pitching staff combined to strike out 14 of the 34 batters it faced on the night.

Offensively, SS Drew Faurot got things going in the 4th inning with a home run for the 3rd consecutive game. It was 4th home run of the season overall.

Later on in the game, C Ben McCabe and 3B Andrew Brait each hit a pair of RBIs to lead the team for the game.

The win builds momentum for a Knights team that returns home this weekend for a three-game series against Georgia Southern. Game 1’s first pitch will be a 6 p.m. on Friday, Game 2 begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and Game 3 will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

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Rayniah Jones Selected for NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship

Junior Rayniah Jones will be the lone representative for the UCF Track and Field team at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 10-11.

She will be competing in the 60-meter hurdles, an event she qualified for thanks to an 8.08-second time she recorded at the Tiger Paw Invite last month.

It will be Jones’ 2nd consecutive NCAA Indoor Championship appearance and 4th NCAA Championship appearance overall. Last year, she earned a bronze medal in the 60-meter hurdles.

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Women’s Tennis Splits Weekend

The UCF Women’s Tennis team split its pair of matches this weekend against No. 65-ranked TCU and No. 25-ranked Pepperdine.

The Knights swept future Big 12 conference mate TCU, 4-0, on Friday. During this match, Marie Mattel and Sophia Biolay paired up in doubles play for the first time and took down TCU’s Helena Narmont and Yu-Chin Tsai, the No. 44-ranked doubles pair in the country.

However, UCF was on the other end of the sweep on Sunday, as it fell to Pepperdine, 4-0. The Knights fall to 0-2 all-time against the Waves, the other defeat coming in the Sweet 16 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The loss contributed to the Knights’ drop to No. 23 in the nation in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s rankings.

Now 5-4 on the season, the team will look to rebound as their home stand continues with another former NCAA Tournament opponent, No. 30-ranked Miami (FL), coming to town at noon on Saturday.

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Men’s Tennis Splits Weekend

The UCF Men’s Tennis team split its pair of matches this weekend against No. 73-ranked North Florida and No. 16-ranked Florida State.

The Knights defeated the Ospreys on Friday, 5-2. While Lleyton Cronje and Bogdan Pavel picked up a victory in doubles play, a 6-3 win over North Florida’s Jonas Hartenstein and Rodrigo Crespo, they could not do so in singles play. The team’s lineup of four freshmen in Courts 3-6 came through with the victories necessary for the Knights to clinch the matchup.

One of those freshmen ended up getting UCF its lone point in its 6-1 defeat at the hands of Florida State. True freshman Yassine Dlimi defeated No. 89-ranked Youcef Rihane in two sets (6-4, 7-5).

Now 2-7 on the season, the Knights will look to rebound as they hit the road to take on No. 51-ranked Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton at 2 p.m. on Friday.

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Two Men’s Golfers Take Home Top 25 Finishes in Vegas

The UCF Men’s Golf team competed in Las Vegas this week in the Southern Highlands Collegiate.

Fifth-year Luis Carrera earned his 4th Top 15 individual finish of the season thanks to hitting 210 (-6) for the tournament, which put him in a tie for 12th-place.

Fellow fifth-year Markus Braadlie joined Carrera in the Top 25 thanks to a final-round 68 (-4) that propelled him to a 215 (-1) for the tournament, which put him in a tie for 24th.

Their efforts helped the Knights take home a 12th place finish as a team at 872 (+8).

For the full results of the Southern Highlands Collegiate, check out golfstat.com.

The team will be back in action next week as it travels to St. Simons Island, Georgia for the Sea Palms Invitational from March 9-11.

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Knight of the Week

Andrew Sundean - Baseball

After missing the first two weeks of the season due to an offseason injury, sophomore Andrew Sundean returned to action for UCF on Tuesday night as the team’s DH in their midweek matchup against Bethune-Cookman.

Sundean took full advantage of his return to the batter’s box, going 3-5 at the plate with an RBI that brought home C Ben McCabe in the 5th inning.