Victor Tan contributed to this report.

• Final stats

ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF Knights started a new winning streak Saturday night, and they did so in blowout fashion. UCF (16-4) defeated Chicago State University (4-11) 20-1 for their second-straight win over the Cougars in front of 1,024 fans at John Euliano Park.

“It was a lot of fun today. I’m really proud of everybody—from the pitching, to the defense, and to the offense,” head coach Greg Lovelady said after the win.

Junior Thad Ward (2-1) got the start and extended his scoreless-innings streak to 11 after pitching 4.0 hitless innings with four strikeouts.

UCF used five relievers for the remaining 5.0 innings, as Jordan Spicer, Jeffrey Hakanson, Nick McCoy, Luis Ferrer and Jaylyn Whitehead combined for seven strikeouts and allowed just one earned run on McCoy’s one hit and two walks.

As for the Knights’ offense, they exploded for a season-high in earned runs (19) and tied their season-high in hits (16) while scoring in every inning except the third.

The two biggest innings for UCF were the second and fifth.

Already leading 1-0, UCF increased its lead to 7-0 by scoring six runs in the second. After a lead-off single by right fielder Dalton Wingo and a full-count walk by freshman Griffin Bernardo, center fielder Ray Alejo hit a two-RBI single to the shortstop.

The rest of UCF’s runs were scored with two outs after shortstop Brandon Hernandez’s sacrifice bunt advanced Alejo to third. Second baseman Matthew Mika’s bunt then allowed Alejo to score for a 4-0 lead, and designated hitter Tyler Osik launched a three-run shot over the left-field wall to end the inning.

Wingo led off another high-scoring inning for UCF in the fifth. He started with a double to left-center field, advanced to third on a wild pitch and eventually scored off a sacrifice fly by Bernardo. Three batters later, first baseman Rylan Thomas drilled a two-RBI single to center field, driving in Alejo and left fielder Max Wood.

Junior Brody Wofford capped the fifth-inning scoring with his second home run of the season, a grand slam over the right-field wall.

The Knights recorded three one-run innings (first, sixth and eighth) and two two-run innings (fourth and seventh). Those runs included a two-run home run from Osik in the fourth for his second homer of the game, doubling his season total to four. Osik finished the day 2-for-3 with five RBIs and two homers.

“I’ve been seeing the ball well lately, and I’ve been trusting the process, and, as a result, good things happen,” Osik said after the win.

Who’s Next?

The Knights and the Cougars conclude their weekend series Sunday at 1 p.m. at John Euliano Park.

For more on the Knights, as they face the Cougars one more time on Sunday, follow Carl-Max Millionard on Twitter at @cmillionard3.