Kansas State baseball picked up an 8-6 win against UCF on Sunday, winning the series while holding off a late comeback by the Knights, who scored four runs in the ninth.
K-State closer James Guyette shut the door to stop the rally, improving the Wildcats to 23-12 overall with a 10-5 mark in Big 12 play, while capturing its fourth conference series victory.
The Wildcats now tie third in the league standings, bouncing back from a road sweep last weekend at Stillwater.
On the mound to begin the game for K-State was pitcher Lincoln Sheffield, who was perfect through 5 2/3 innings. He retired the first 17 batters and allowed just two hits.
The start of the game saw two big throwing errors from K-State, but these errors were erased after an interference review. Following that, the Wildcats started to build a serious lead.
“I just wanted to relax everybody,” head coach Pete Hughes said. “We’re going to score a lot of runs today, so just relax and make the next pitch.”
In the top of the second, left fielder Keegan O’Connor and right fielder Kyan Lodice both got on base. Following that, third baseman Dee Kennedy got fans in Tointon Family Stadium on their feet as he whacked a homerun over the center field wall.
The top of the fourth saw O’Connor hit the second and last K-State home run of the day. The top of the fifth had four different Wildcats turn in runs. By this point, the Wildcats had built an 8-0 lead over the Knights.
Sheffield was a menace on the mound, striking out five batters and not allowing a single run until the seventh inning. He threw 79 pitches, including 56 strikes, to notch five strikeouts and allow just one walk.
“I knew the wind was blowing in,” Sheffield said. “It was one of those days where it was a pitcher-friendly day, so I just let them hit it to get themselves out and see what happens from there.”
With Sheffield out, the eighth and ninth innings were where the late-game heroics started to take shape for UCF, which brought in four runs and had fans in Tointon holding their breath.
Guyette came in clutch, recording his second save of the season to put the Knights comeback to rest. K-State will hit the road to face its next opponent, Northeastern. The first game will be at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
