What Does UCF Bring to the Big 12 in Baseball?

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July 1 marked the entrance of BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston into the Big 12. For the 2024 baseball season, the conference landscape will feature 13 members: Baylor, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

But after next season, Texas and Oklahoma will leave for the SEC, and the Big 12 will have just 11 universities with baseball programs.

In recent years, none of the four new schools have had much success on the diamond, but over the next couple of weeks, I’ll highlight each incoming member individually.

At the conclusion of the 2023 season, UCF fired Greg Lovelady, who had been the head of the program since 2017.

ESPN

UCF’s starting quarterback, John Rhys Plumlee, is a multi-sport athlete and is also a starting outfielder for the Knights. He hit .286 and stole 18 bags in 2023.

Under Lovelady, the Knights won 40 games and the American Athletic Conference Championship in 2017 before missing the NCAA Tournament for five consecutive seasons excluding 2020.

UCF has since hired Rich Wallace, an Orlando native and former Knight baseball player and assistant coach to take over the program as they head into the Big 12.

"I'm excited for the future because we believe in the trajectory of our baseball program," UCF Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said. "Over the last few years, we've put significant resources into baseball at UCF - and we will continue to build the program in the transition. … "I'm confident we can win Big 12 Conference baseball titles and compete on a national level."

Next season, the Knights will return rising junior Andrew Sundean, who earned All-AAC First Team in 2023 and was a Freshman All-American in 2022. Both of the Knight's Freshman All-AAC players, Drew Faurot (INF) and Cameron Leiter (RHP), transferred to Florida State.

UCF’s starting quarterback, John Rhys Plumlee, is a multi-sport athlete and is also a starting outfielder for the Knights. He hit .286 and stole 18 bags in 2023.

In program history, UCF has won seven conference championships and has made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances. The most notable alumni include Drew Butera, Dylan Moore and Dan Winkler.

Considering that UCF is in the heart of Florida, you’d expect them to figure things out sooner rather than later. While the Knights probably won’t be competitive in the Big 12 immediately, I see a lot of long-term potential for their program.