Time ran out on UCF baseball’s run in the Auburn Regional, three days that often felt like an eternity given the numerous weather-related delays at Plainsman Park.
Chase Fralick socked two of Auburn’s six home runs, and the host Tigers — the No. 4 national seed — eliminated the Knights with a 9-3 victory on May 31. Storms in the area pushed back first pitch three hours, and there were two separate stoppages, totaling 50 minutes, within the first two innings.
Auburn (40-20) advanced to the regional final, where it must defeat fourth-seeded Milwaukee twice for a spot in supers.
UCF ended the season with a 32-23 record, highlighted by Andrew Williamson’s three-homer game in Friday’s win over NC State.
DeAmez Ross and Zak Skinner went deep for the Knights in Sunday’s contest, and Roman Kimball notched a career-high seven strikeouts in 4⅓ innings. UCF came up one win short of its sixth regional final appearance in school history. It still has never advanced to supers.
Here are three takeaways from UCF’s baseball finale for the 2026 season.
DeAmez Ross spots UCF early 2-0 lead
UCF Knights’ DeAmez Ross (27) celebrates his home run as Auburn Tigers take on UCF Knights during the NCAA Regional Baseball tournament at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Two pitches in, DeAmez Ross gave UCF a jolt with a line-drive home run over the right-field wall off Auburn starter Alex Petrovic. Nearly half of the runs Petrovic has allowed this season have come in the first two innings.
Ross returned to the dish in the second with the bases loaded, and he legged out an infield single to plate Landon Moran and double the Knights’ advantage.
UCF could have used a crooked number on the scoreboard. One batter later, John Smith bounced into an inning-ending double play, and Petrovic worked through the next three frames unscathed.
Auburn overwhelms UCF pitchers with solo homer barrage
Auburn Tigers’ Chase Fralick (3) celebrates his home run as Auburn Tigers take on UCF Knights during the NCAA Regional Baseball tournament at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Auburn found its power stroke when it got a second look at Kimball.
Mason McCraine put the Tigers on the board with a solo shot, and Fralick followed suit two batters later to knot the score. Ethin Bingaman blasted a 420-foot homer to straightaway center, his fourth of the regional, to give Auburn a lead it would not relinquish.
UCF reliever Anthony Lariz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning by allowing just one inherited runner to score via sacrifice fly, but Auburn tagged him for two more bombs in the sixth — one apiece for Cade Belyeu and Taylor Belza — to go up 6-3.
Fralick capped off the Tigers’ six-homer performance with a 405-foot no-doubter over the UCF bullpen in right field off Matt Sauser.
UCF baseball rebounds after disappointing 2025 season
UCF Knights’ Roman Kimball (1) pitches as Auburn Tigers take on UCF Knights during the NCAA Regional Baseball tournament at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Two of UCF’s three Big 12 campaigns have ended with trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Knights set a new high mark with 19 conference wins, tying Arizona State for third place in the regular-season standings.
UCF won seven of 10 conference series, rebounding from a fairly dismal 2025 season in which it went 9-21 against league opponents.
Terry Mohajir, UCF’s vice president and director of athletics, saluted the Knights’ “strong season” on social media.
“This team was always competing, despite battling numerous injuries throughout the year and earned its second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons under Rich Wallace,” Mohajir said. “This group represented UCF the right way all year long, exciting times ahead for UCF Baseball!”
Wallace, a UCF grad, has the Knights positioned to be a perennial tournament player despite losing key cogs in the lineup like Ross, Smith and Williamson, an expected high pick in July’s MLB draft. He patched holes in the transfer portal and recruited a high volume of freshmen in the pitching staff that should return.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF baseball takeaways from NCAA Tournament Regional loss to Auburn
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