‘Mouthy’ UCF baseball sweeps Clemson, celebrates by running football hill
Over the weekend, UCF baseball did something that hadn’t been done in nearly 40 years.
Greg Lovelady’s squad became the first non-ACC team to sweep a three-game series at Clemson since 1985.
The Knights (6-1) bounced back from a mid-week loss vs. FAU and earned their second weekend series sweep of the season by hitting 7 home runs over the course of three road games against the Tigers.
The first game Friday was tied 2-2 in the ninth inning before it was suspended due to weather when UCF had runners on first and second base with no outs.
The sides picked up the matchup the following day and the Knights scored 2 runs in the top of the final inning to earn the win. First, Nick Romano singled to score Ryan Taylor from third. Then with the bases loaded, Andrew Brait was hit by a pitch.
Brait was named the AAC baseball player of the week Monday after hitting .467 with 3 doubles and 6 RBI in three games at Clemson.
Kyle Kramer earned the save by striking out two batters to secure UCF’s 4-2 win in the first game. Game Two of the series began 40 minutes later.
Drew Faurot and John Rhys Plumlee homered to get things going for the Knights in the second matchup. The Knights found themselves up 6-1 in the top of the fifth inning after Tom Josten hit a 3-run home run to center.
The Tigers responded by scoring 5 runs over the course of the next two innings and tied the game at 6 entering the seventh.
UCF used a 4-run eighth inning to go ahead one last time. Clemson scored another run in the bottom of the ninth but fell short of coming back as the Knights won 10-7 to clinch at least a series win.
The series sweep was completed on Sunday when the Knights scored 7 runs combined in the seventh and eighth innings. Similarly to Game Two, the third leg of the weekend was tied at 6 in the sixth.
Josten hit 2 home runs while Faurot and Ben McCabe homered once in the third game.
After the series loss, Clemson coach Erik Bakich discussed how his team felt after being swept while noting how UCF celebrated the win.
“It sucks right now, and it leaves a very bitter taste in our mouth, especially with a team that’s very mouthy in the way they celebrate on our own field,” he said Sunday. “That’s double-tough.”
UCF took things a step further after the third game by running down the hill in the east end zone of Clemson football’s Memorial Stadium, a move that angered some Tigers fans on social media.
Running down the hill is traditionally reserved for Clemson’s football team when the squad enters the stadium ahead of home games. The act was shared on TikTok by UCF’s Plumlee, who later deleted the video after it spread online.
The Knights travel to Bethune-Cookman Tuesday (6 p.m.) before returning to John Euliano Park to host Georgia Southern for a three-game weekend series that starts Friday (6 p.m.) in Orlando.
Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.
