2017 Central Florida 85 Nos. 18-34: Feeling the pressure

25. Greg Lovelady, UCF Baseball

As I noted in a previous edition of this list, Orlando does not have a strong baseball presence. The Florida Fire Frogs have moved in Kissimmee, giving baseball fans some outlet for their fandom and to watch the game. But even advanced A baseball is lacking a little something. The games are nice enough, but the stakes never feel particularly that high (maybe it is because the Fire Frogs are in last place).

The lack of baseball anything in Orlando was made worse by the slumber UCF’s usually strong baseball program went under. Especially in recent years.

Former coach Terry Rooney did a good job bringing in talent to make UCF appear ready for the spotlight. The UCF Knights would score the occasional victory over the Florida Gators or Florida State Seminoles or Miami Hurricanes and the like. There were plenty of times where UCF seemed set to make the NCAA Tournament and then fell apart in conference play.

It was unclear what was wrong. But the Knights in 2015 went from ranked in the non-conference season to out of the tournament by the end of the year. That was clearly unacceptable. And new athletic director Danny White made some changes.

That change came in the form of new baseball coach Greg Lovelady. Lovelady came in and immediately changed the expectations for UCF. The Knights went 40-22 last year and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.

It feels like with all the advantages of Orlando and Central Florida, baseball at UCF should be a much bigger deal. Piecing together a team at this level can be a bit more difficult, no doubt.

But Lovelady set a new and higher expectation for the Knights moving forward. With much of last year’s roster returning, UCF is expected to make the NCAA Tournament again and perform even better in the American Conference.

That certainly makes them worth checking out.