MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No. 23 Central Florida is not atop the Big 12 Conference at this stage of the season by chance.
The Knights showcased the multitude of reasons why they’ve lost only once in league play and responded to a major bout of adversity in as strong of fashion as possible Friday night to defeat 13th-ranked West Virginia, 5-0, at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
“We were able to keep the game close, but just never got anything going offensively,” West Virginia coach Steve Sabins said.
UCF (19-8, 9-1) utilized five pitchers that combined on a three-hit shutout and got a pair of home runs from standout Andrew Williamson to build a two-game lead in the loss column in the conference standings.
Knights’ starting pitcher Braden Smith took a line from WVU cleanup hitter Sean Smith off his head that resulted in the final out of the first inning, but of far more importance, caused Smith to drop to the playing surface moments before emergency medical personnel checked on him. Bleeding from his face, Smith remained on the ground for approximately 15 minutes while multiple towels were applied to lessen the bleeding. He eventually came to his feet, received a standing ovation and was carted off.
“You have a chance for life-changing brain damage and things that are serious,” Sabins said. “It becomes human really quickly where it’s like we’re all really blessed to get to play baseball and be out there. All we talk about is fearless and aggressive. To do what we do at a high level, you have to want to end people and be the best in the world and you have to believe you are the best. All those factors, all of a sudden it goes to there’s someone that could potentially die on the field. That alone is super scary.”
A pair of second-inning singles enabled the Knights to strike first, including one from DeAmez Ross that brought in Javier Crespo for the first run.
Max Murray took over at pitcher for UCF to start the second, and after hitting Brock Wills to begin his outing, Murray settled in and maintained his team’s one-run lead.
The lead doubled in the third when Andrew Williamson blasted a solo home run to straightaway center field.
A second run-scoring single for Ross off WVU starting pitcher Dawson Montesa made it 3-0 in the fourth and helped chase Montesa after four innings. He allowed three runs on five hits, struck out seven and issued one walk.
Ian Korn spelled Montesa and surrendered a run-scoring double to John Smith III in the fifth that made it 4-0.
“They had great at bats and played incredible infield defense,” Sabins said. “They threw strikes and had tough at bats.”
Armani Guzman led off the home half of the fifth with a single, at which point Murray was replaced by Kevin Schoneboom, who retired three straight.
“Their arms are definitely good. They threw a lot of strikes,” Guzman said. “They threw chase pitches when they needed to.”
Kris Sosnowski replaced Schoneboom with two on and one out in the sixth and immediately induced a first pitch fly ball out off the bat of Brock Wills, before getting Brodie Kresser on a ground ball to shortstop to end the frame.
Williamson hit his second home run of the night and team-leading eighth this season in the seventh on a 362-shoot that stayed inside the left field foul pole.
That was more than enough offense as Sosnowski would log 2.2 scoreless innings before giving way to Evan Jones, who retired all three batters he faced in the ninth.
WVU (20-6, 7-3) was shutout for the first time this season and the first time over its last 33 games dating back to last year.
“There’s ebbs and flows throughout the season. Playing four emotional games across the country, flying back three time zones, having six guys on our team battling a viral illness, there’s a lot that probably goes into this,” Sabins said. “Our bat speed looked low tonight. In general, our guys physically didn’t look great.”
Montesa took the loss, while Korn threw four innings and struck out five, allowing two runs on five hits. All but 13 of his 54 pitches were strikes.
“My strong suit is filling up the zone and 41 out of 54 is up there in strike percentage,” Korn said. “Maybe a little too many strikes, because then hitters are comfortable and know they’re going to get a strike and something to swing at.”
Freshman Weston Smith, a Hurricane native, threw a scoreless ninth for the Mountaineers.
Williamson had three of his team’s 10 hits. Smith III, Ross and Landon Moran added two hits apiece in the victory.
The two teams clash again at 2 p.m. Saturday in the second of a three-game set.
“Losing in general is just miserable and you don’t ever have any comfort in wins or losses,” Sabins said. “It’s all about preparation for the next game. The focus is always on getting better.”
Sabins, who noted Smith’s parents were in attendance, said the UCF pitcher was conscious after taking the line drive to the head.
“I’ve heard he’s doing well and talking,” Sabins said. “Maybe a couple fractures in the face, but I’ve seen a couple of those things end up even worse. There’s probably a little deflation there and puts into perspective what we’re doing. Never felt like that was an advantage to the Mountaineers.”
