Looking back at the history of UCF Baseball, I consider joining Conference USA in 2005-06 as a delineation signifying the beginning of the "modern" era.
The Knights dominated the TAAC and Atlantic Sun during the 1990s and early 2000s when their key rivals were Stetson, Jacksonville, FAU, Troy, etc. Between 1993 and 2004, UCF made the NCAA Regionals eight times, the longest drought being two years.
When UCF joined C-USA, most of us thought UCF Baseball would continue to be the most successful men's sport at UCF. The program had a fantastic reputation at the time based on their A-Sun success and they would now be aligned in a top-five baseball league that also included quality programs like Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane and Southern Miss.
I won't completely rehash the (end of) Bergman, Terry Rooney and Greg Lovelady eras, but it's staggering to me that in the 18 seasons between 2006 and 2023, UCF made just three NCAA Regionals: 2011, 2012 and 2017.
Rooney almost reached a third regional. In 2014, UCF was acknowledged as the "first team out" of the bracket. Things fell off after that, a subpar season followed in 2015 and then a dreadful one in 2016 which prompted Rooney to cut bait and take an assistant job elsewhere knowing he was heading into the final year of a contract.
Then lo and behold in 2017, Greg Lovelady in his first year led UCF to a 40 wins, a regular season AAC championship and NCAA Regional berth.
After that, Lovelady's teams were good but not good enough. To his credit, he never had a losing season. We could talk about pitching depth/injuries and late-season slides that seemed to be a culprit in some of those seasons, but the biggest issue IMO was the decline of the American. It went from being a multiple-bid league to essentially a one-bid league* the last few years.
(Once UConn left, for whatever reason, the league RPI plummeted which usually meant ECU was the only team slated to earn a bid regardless of winning the conference tournament or not. From 2021 onward, the only times the AAC got two bids is when ECU lost the conference tournament).
I wasn't sure what to expect in Rich Wallace's first season besides having complete confidence that he would get UCF Baseball on track to becoming a regular regional contender again. I also know that when you're in a power conference like the Big 12, a rising tide lifts all boats. UCF was no longer competing in what's essentially a one-bid league like the AAC.
As long as they did reasonably well in OOC and found a way to finish Big 12 play around .500, their RPI should be in the range to have a chance. Still, that was easier said than done.
Highlights for me were the home series wins vs. Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Gutting out the Saturday win against Texas. Then delivering two clutch wins in the Big 12 tournament to seal the at-large bid and get off the bubble.
Kudos to Wallace and his staff, the UCF seniors that bought in and stuck it out and the influx of transfers that seamlessly meshed in. Happy for a guy like Ben Vespi who will end his career with a regional as well as Andrew Brait who is the lone remaining player that played on UCF's 2020 team.
And as far as those transfers, how huge were Wallace's connections? He was the sole reason for the late pickups of Jack Zyska (enrolled last September) and Danny Neri (enrolled in January), both of whom played for him at Notre Dame. Without those two, is UCF in a regional this year?
Fantastic season and hopefully a sign of what becomes an annual occurrence for the program.
***
NCAA Selection Show airs Monday from 12-1 p.m. on ESPN2.
I would not bet against Tallahassee, though we'll find out for sure tomorrow. FSU has not hosted a regional since 2018.
If Kendall Rogers and the D1Baseball crew is accurate, both UCF and Florida should be No. 3 seeds. I've seen some projections that put UF in Tally, though I'd be surprised if they did that. If one of us had to go out of state, I'd put my money on UF.
The Knights dominated the TAAC and Atlantic Sun during the 1990s and early 2000s when their key rivals were Stetson, Jacksonville, FAU, Troy, etc. Between 1993 and 2004, UCF made the NCAA Regionals eight times, the longest drought being two years.
When UCF joined C-USA, most of us thought UCF Baseball would continue to be the most successful men's sport at UCF. The program had a fantastic reputation at the time based on their A-Sun success and they would now be aligned in a top-five baseball league that also included quality programs like Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane and Southern Miss.
I won't completely rehash the (end of) Bergman, Terry Rooney and Greg Lovelady eras, but it's staggering to me that in the 18 seasons between 2006 and 2023, UCF made just three NCAA Regionals: 2011, 2012 and 2017.
Rooney almost reached a third regional. In 2014, UCF was acknowledged as the "first team out" of the bracket. Things fell off after that, a subpar season followed in 2015 and then a dreadful one in 2016 which prompted Rooney to cut bait and take an assistant job elsewhere knowing he was heading into the final year of a contract.
Then lo and behold in 2017, Greg Lovelady in his first year led UCF to a 40 wins, a regular season AAC championship and NCAA Regional berth.
After that, Lovelady's teams were good but not good enough. To his credit, he never had a losing season. We could talk about pitching depth/injuries and late-season slides that seemed to be a culprit in some of those seasons, but the biggest issue IMO was the decline of the American. It went from being a multiple-bid league to essentially a one-bid league* the last few years.
(Once UConn left, for whatever reason, the league RPI plummeted which usually meant ECU was the only team slated to earn a bid regardless of winning the conference tournament or not. From 2021 onward, the only times the AAC got two bids is when ECU lost the conference tournament).
I wasn't sure what to expect in Rich Wallace's first season besides having complete confidence that he would get UCF Baseball on track to becoming a regular regional contender again. I also know that when you're in a power conference like the Big 12, a rising tide lifts all boats. UCF was no longer competing in what's essentially a one-bid league like the AAC.
As long as they did reasonably well in OOC and found a way to finish Big 12 play around .500, their RPI should be in the range to have a chance. Still, that was easier said than done.
Highlights for me were the home series wins vs. Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Gutting out the Saturday win against Texas. Then delivering two clutch wins in the Big 12 tournament to seal the at-large bid and get off the bubble.
Kudos to Wallace and his staff, the UCF seniors that bought in and stuck it out and the influx of transfers that seamlessly meshed in. Happy for a guy like Ben Vespi who will end his career with a regional as well as Andrew Brait who is the lone remaining player that played on UCF's 2020 team.
And as far as those transfers, how huge were Wallace's connections? He was the sole reason for the late pickups of Jack Zyska (enrolled last September) and Danny Neri (enrolled in January), both of whom played for him at Notre Dame. Without those two, is UCF in a regional this year?
Fantastic season and hopefully a sign of what becomes an annual occurrence for the program.
***
NCAA Selection Show airs Monday from 12-1 p.m. on ESPN2.
I would not bet against Tallahassee, though we'll find out for sure tomorrow. FSU has not hosted a regional since 2018.
If Kendall Rogers and the D1Baseball crew is accurate, both UCF and Florida should be No. 3 seeds. I've seen some projections that put UF in Tally, though I'd be surprised if they did that. If one of us had to go out of state, I'd put my money on UF.
