Fresh off a series sweep over defending Big 12 tournament champion Arizona and in first place in the Big 12 Conference standings at 8-1, the UCF baseball team has entered the national rankings for the first time on the season as it checks in at No. 23 in this week’s D1Baseball Top 25 poll.

The Black and Gold are also ranked 22nd on the March 30 Perfect Game Top 25 poll.  

The Knights, who are 18-8 overall, have won nine of their last 11 games and 14 of their last 17. The 8-1 conference start marks UCF’s best start to conference play since 2014 when the Black and Gold too started at 8-1. UCF has swept both Arizona and Oklahoma State in league play at home and also took two of three from the preseason favorite TCU Horned Frogs on the road. The Knights finished the month of March with a 14-3 record.

The Arizona series concluded a stretch in which the Knights played seven consecutive opponents that made the 2025 NCAA Tournament. UCF went 12-3 during the stretch and swept a pair of 2025 College World Series teams in Arizona and Murray State.

The top 25 ranking marks UCF’s first since March of 2025 when it spent a week ranked 25th by Perfect Game. It also marks the Knights’ first appearance on a D1Baseball Top 25 poll since April 8, 2024, when the team was ranked 17th.   

On Deck 
After playing 13 of 17 games at home in the month of March, the Knights will hit the road for four games this week. UCF will first play at Big Ten foe Penn State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., before heading to Morgantown for a key Big 12 series at second place and 13th-ranked West Virginia Friday to Sunday.