NCAA baseball tournament: Milwaukee drills UCF in Auburn Regional

• The Milwaukee Panthers defeated the UCF Knights in the NCAA Baseball Tournament’s Auburn Regional.
• Milwaukee’s offense scored nine early runs, capitalizing on five extra-base hits and five walks.
• UCF faces an elimination game against the host team and No. 4 national seed, Auburn.

Milwaukee proved its offensive outburst in the Auburn Regional opener was no fluke, though UCF’s pitchers certainly aided the Panthers’ efforts on May 30.

The Horizon League champs tagged the Knights for five extra-base hits and capitalized on five walks in the first three innings to cruise for a 13-6 victory at Plainsman Park. Milwaukee (27-31) sits in the driver’s seat to become just the 10th regional No. 4 seed to advance to supers in NCAA baseball tournament history.

UCF (32-22) will meet Auburn (39-20) at 3 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game. The winner will turn around and face Milwaukee at 8, needing to upend the Panthers twice.

Milwaukee scored the game’s first nine runs to win for the 22nd time in their last 30 games. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead the day before to stun Auburn.

Andrew Williamson demolished his fourth home run of the regional to lead off the sixth inning, a 443-foot blast with an exit velocity of 110 mph off the bat. Evan Jones gave the Knights a chance at an improbable comeback with a career-high 4⅓ innings of two-run relief.

Here are three takeaways from an untimely upset that puts the Knights on the brink of elimination.

UCF had no answers for the top of Milwaukee’s order

Milwaukee’s big bats at the top of the lineup set the tone and proved to be near-impossible outs for UCF’s pitchers.

Panthers leadoff hitter Grant Ross reached base in each of his five plate appearances, including an unorthodox solo home run deflected off the head of UCF center fielder De’Amez Ross — reminiscent of an infamous 1993 José Canseco blooper in Cleveland.

“We’re just gritty, man. We’re grinding it out,” Grant Ross told the ESPN+ broadcast crew after the game. “We knew we had the talent all along. It’s just clicking.”

Charlie Marion singled twice, walked twice, was hit by a pitch and scored twice. Dylan O’Connell smacked doubles in his first two at-bats and drove in four runs.

The Panthers chased Mateo Gray after 1⅓ innings. He found the strike zone on just 13 of his 27 pitches, allowing three hits and three earned runs. UCF burned through five of its bullpen arms, a potentially problematic situation for the rest of the weekend.

Home plate umpire exits after taking foul tip off mask

Play was halted for 20 minutes in the second inning when home plate umpire Blake Felix absorbed a foul ball off the face mask — a fastball thrown by Milwaukee starter Aric Ehmke that UCF catcher Zak Skinner tipped.

Felix was visibly shaken up, and he met with the on-site athletic training staff before heading into the dugout. He underwent testing for a concussion and did not return, replaced behind the plate by second base umpire Travis Carlson.

Alan Gorewitz filled the void at second base for the remainder of the evening.

UCF faces elimination against No. 4 national seed Auburn

The Knights will need to knock out the fourth-ranked team in the country to keep hope of a first trip to supers alive.

Auburn rebounded to eliminate NC State in a 17-13 slugfest in earlier action Saturday. Five Tigers had multi-hit games; Ethin Bingaman and Cade Belyeu each homered twice, and Chase Fralick drove in six RBIs.

UCF has a 5-6 all-time record against the Tigers, though it swept a three-game series at Plainsman Park during the abbreviated 2020 season.

Auburn’s pitching staff has allowed 26 runs through two regional games. During the regular season, the Tigers ranked fourth in Division I with a 3.45 ERA.