A&M club baseball kicked off its spring season with a three-game series against UCF, falling 10-5 in Game 1, winning 3-1 in a tight Game 2 before getting steamrolled 9-1 in Game 3.

The last time the teams faced off in 2015, the Aggies split a series against the Knights. Agribusiness senior second baseman and Head Coach Colby Dye said the first-game struggles had a lot to do with the team not seeing live pitching since November 2025. 

“Practices [have] been cancelled, fields … all that stuff,” Dye said. “We did get the bats rolling in the last inning, which I wish we had hit the whole game, of course.”

Game 1 started with UCF scoring one run in the top of the first, third and fifth to give itself a 3-0 advantage going into the sixth. But it was the seventh inning that blew things open when A&M’s defensive mishaps loaded the bases. A soft grounder and a balk from the Aggies allowed two runs for the Knights before a bases-clearing single made it 8-0 UCF. 

A&M pitchers gave up contact all day, but had kept UCF off the bases with good defensive plays until that point in the seventh inning. Two more hard hits plated a pair of baserunners for UCF, giving it a seven-run seventh inning advantage. The Aggies battled back in the bottom of the final frame with five RBIs from manufacturing senior first baseman Jake Thompson and Dye. It wasn’t enough as the Aggies fell, 10-5. 

The Maroon and White got some redemption in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader when finance senior infielder Matthew Jasek and sport management junior outfielder Austin Dyke drew walks to put two runners on. A grounder by industrial engineering senior 1B Mark Ng to third resulted in a pair of errors by the Knights, E5 and E3, to bring all three Aggies home. 

UCF scored one run in the top of the third from a grounder to second, but tight pitching from economics senior right-handed pitcher Markos Romo kept A&M ahead 3-1. The Aggies finished with solid pitching and defensive plays to prevail 3-1 in Game 2 despite being held to a no-hitter.

“I have no worry whatsoever with our defense or pitching now,” Dye said. “I mean that gave me so much confidence.”

Game 3 started strong for UCF with two runs in the first. A&M scored one in the bottom of the second off a standup double from industrial distribution senior OF Chris Gaidsick. From there, it was all UCF.

The Knights got ahead in the counts, and the Aggie pitchers couldn’t find the zone to retire hitters. Walks and hard hits led UCF to score two in the fourth and one in the sixth to make it 5-1 heading to the seventh. 

The Aggies found some success defensively in the top of the seventh with bases loaded and no outs. Good defense and a 5-3 double play held UCF to just two runs. UCF loaded the bases again in the eighth with two outs. A&M had UCF down to their last strike of the inning, but an E5 scored two before Jasek retired the last batter. 

Construction science freshman right-handed pitcher Fritz Deike came on in the top of the ninth and held UCF scoreless. However, the Aggies never found success at bat the rest of the game despite nine hits overall. A&M got behind in counts as UCF pitching dominated Game 3 for a final 9-1 victory.

Assistant coach and management senior INF Christian Letendre gave UCF the credit it was due.

“Honestly, that’s just kind of a testament to the UCF pitchers,” Letendre said. “They filled it up today, really wasn’t much that we could do about it when they’re just filling up strikes.”

Up next, A&M will head to Texas State to face off against the Bobcats in a three-game series on Feb. 28 through March 1.