UCF Baseball's march to the NCAA postseason was a season-long team effort, but they may not have gotten there if not for the recent heroics of catcher Danny Neri.
During UCF's Big 12 tournament opener against Cincinnati, Neri hit three home runs inside Globe Life Park including the game winner in the 11th inning. He was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament team for his efforts.
Neri, who had four home runs the entire season leading up to that game, said it hadn't really sunk in what he was able to do.
"I just wanted to go out there and do anything I could to help the team," Neri said. "That's what I was excited to do, to help put us in this position. All the personal accolades, that's all great, but at the end of the day we made it back to a regional and that's the best part."
On Monday, UCF found out they would play in the Tallahassee Regional with a opening round matchup against Alabama. Host Florida State and Stetson are also in the bracket.
Neri transferred to UCF to reunite with Rich Wallace, who was his former assistant coach at Notre Dame. Neri's former Notre Dame head coach, Link Jarrett, now holds the same position at FSU where a potential regional matchup looms.
"Having played so many postseason games for Coach Jarrett and with Coach Wallace in the dugout and the potential to be playing for Coach Wallace and Coach Jarrett in the other dugout, I'm sure it'll be weird to look across the field and see him over there. I'm excited. I know he'll have those guys ready. They've got a great team, but so do we. I would love to get a chance at them."
Neri said it's an honor knowing he helped Wallace take UCF to a regional in his first season as head coach.
"It's a massive accomplishment," Neri said. "Not an easy thing to do, show up with a new group of guys in a new conference and navigate your way through all those challenges. It wasn't smooth sailing by any means. We got swept in our first conference series and had to fight all year. He did a great job helping us through it. Can't say enough what he's done and the rest of the staff has done to get us ready."
From Wallace on down, Neri said 2024 UCF Baseball is a special group.
"There's such a cohesiveness between the staff and the players," Neri said. "It's unlike any team I've ever been on. I feel like all of us have such a great relationship with all our coaches whether that be the hitting coach or pitching coach. They've helped us in so many different ways it makes it easy on gameday to get the job done when you're all on the same page."
Neri was essentially the last man added to the roster. He remained at Notre Dame through December in order to graduate, then made the decision to transfer in January.
"I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to play my last year with," Neri said. "Coming here in January, I was a little nervous about how I would fit in with these guys who have known each other for so long. They welcomed me with open arms. I could not have asked for a better situation. To get to go into battle one last time with these guys and make a postseason push, I'm really excited and grateful for the opportunity."
