The UCF baseball team defeated rival USF 3-2 on Saturday to earn a share of the regular-season conference title for the first time since 2004.
With the win, the Knights finish as The American's 2017 Co-Regular Season Champion after Houston defeated Cincinnati to finish with a matching conference record of 15-9. UCF owns the tie-breaker with the Cougars and will claim the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament on May 23.
"You can't honor your seniors any better than you did today," first-year head coach Greg Lovelady said after the game. "I'm really proud of the whole team. All the older kids set out on this mission from the day I got here. They told me what they wanted to do, and what they thought they could do."
The Bulls (40-15 overall, 14-10 conference) hit three singles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. But the Knights (38-18, 15-9) struck twice in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead.
UCF added another run in the third, when left fielder Kyle Marsh scored on an RBI single by third baseman Kam Gellinger.
The Bulls would add a run in the seventh inning on an error but that would be all the scoring the could muster as the Knights season-strikeout leader, Jason Bahr put the game away.
The American tournament is scheduled for May 23-28 at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Fla. The Knights will open the double-elimination tournament against No. 8 seed East Carolina on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Fourth-seeded USF will take on No. 5 Tulane on Tuesday at 3 p.m.