Oklahoma State Baseball Beat 13-2 by UCF in Big 12 Opener

ORLANDO, Fla. – Oklahoma State opened Big 12 Conference play with a 13-2 loss to UCF Friday night at John Euliano Park.

The Knights out-hit OSU 14-5 in the contest as the Cowboys fell to 11-7 overall, while the Knights improved to 11-4 and 1-3 in conference play.

Ian Daugherty led OSU with a 2-for-3 night at the plate that saw him drive in both Cowboy runs.

Sam Garcia took the loss to move to 2-2. The southpaw worked four innings, allowing six runs on four hits and striking out five.

Right-hander Ben Vespi picked up the win as he allowed just two runs on four hits in six innings to improve to 2-0. 

UCF took the lead in the fourth. Following a leadoff single by Andrew Brait, a two-run home run to right-center field off the bat of Lex Boedicker put the Knights on top. 

The home team wasn’t done as Andrew Sundean singled following the homer and then came around to score after a walk and two wild pitches to make the score 3-0.

OSU trimmed its deficit in the fifth. After being held hitless over the first 4 1/3 innings, Tyler Wulfert and Kollin Ritchie delivered back-to-back singles. Up next, Daugherty ripped a double into the right-center field gap to bring home both runners and make the score 3-2.

But the Knights would respond in the bottom of the frame, taking advantage of a pair of throwing errors and three hits to plate five runs, four of those unearned.

UCF added three runs to its lead in the seventh to go up 12-2, with Jack Zyska and Andrew Williamson hitting back-to-back homers to help extend the Knights’ advantage.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 5 p.m. (CDT).