WVU outfielder Paul Schoenfeld slides into second base under the tag Sunday on a stolen base against Central Florida. (Photo by Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post)

GRANVILLE — Having begun the season picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 this season, UCF walked out of Kendrick Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon having made an impressive statement to the rest of the conference.

The 23rd-ranked Knights are for real.

UCF starting pitcher Camden Wicker retired 20 of the 26 hitters he faced and West Virginia’s offense was limited to just four hits, as the Knights beat the 13th-ranked Mountaineers 5-1.

Add on the Knights’ 5-0 win on Friday, and UCF (20-9, 10-2 Big 12) took two of three from WVU to hand the Mountaineers their first series loss of the season.

“I think a lot of people think things that they don’t know much about,” was how WVU pitcher Reese Bassinger explained UCF’s preseason expectations. “No one knows what they did in the offseason or what they worked on. UCF, I believe they were a little bit above .500 last year, but they worked their tails off and they’re a better team this year. I think they’re going to keep moving up.”

UCF maintained its lead at the top of the Big 12 standings, while WVU (21-7, 8-4) fell back to third place and two games behind.

There are still six weekends worth of conference games remaining, but as far as this midseason top 25 showdown went, UCF came out of it looking pretty good. The Knights outhit WVU over the three games, 32-20, and outscored WVU 20-12.

UCF was a dropped fly ball in the ninth inning away on Saturday from earning a sweep, in what ended up as an 11-10 come-from-behind victory by the Mountaineers. UCF’s response was putting Wicker on the mound a day later. The 6-foot-7 righty allowed just one base hit over his first four innings and WVU never got a runner past second base until the eighth inning.

“Yeah, they’re for real and they’re doing a nice job there,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “From the turnaround to the team they had last season to what they’re doing right now, they’re playing great baseball. They have good athletes. They’re finding ways to win games.”

With all of that said, Sunday’s game was a 1-0 affair heading into the sixth inning. WVU starter Chansen Cole was just as impressive, having allowed just a solo home run to Andrew Williamson in the first inning.

Other than that, Cole retired 14 of the next 15 batters he faced.

“Chansen Cole really pitched tremendously,” Sabins said. “He gave us a chance. He really stabilized himself after giving up the home run.”

UCF sealed the deal in the sixth inning by taking advantage of WVU miscues. Austin Jacobs hit a one-out single. Cayden Gaskin then hit a grounder up the middle that looked like a double-play ball. WVU got the force out at second, but Matthew Robaugh’s throw to first was off target and Gaskin ended up at second. Williamson was intentionally walked and John Smith III had an infield single to load the bases.

In came WVU reliever David Perez, who forced a ground ball from Zak Skinner to the right side that WVU first baseman Armani Guzman couldn’t handle that scored Gaskin.

“We ended up righty on right with David Perez and that guy (Skinner) has really struggled with sliders,” Sabins said. “David has the best slider on our team and has been our best pitcher over the course of the season. He’s executed in big moments, and that’s exactly what he did. He threw a slider to Skinner and got him out front. He capped that ball to the first baseman and we made an error.

“That game changes. It could have been 1-0 going into the (bottom of the sixth.) It could have been much different.”

Instead, Landon Moran walked with the bases loaded and pinch-hitter James Hankerson Jr. drove in two more runs with a base hit. UCF’s lead grew to 5-0 and the Knights never looked back.

WVU scored its lone run in the eighth inning. Brock Wills walked, Robaugh singled and Ben Lumsden walked to load the bases. Guzman struck out and Gavin Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to right field for one run and Paul Schoenfeld grounded out to end the inning.

“I feel like today, we outpitched and outhit someone and lost,” Sabins said. “That’s the first time I’ve said that and I don’t go down that road very often. The truth is, we could’ve easily been swept this weekend. We were down eight runs in Game 2, but we also could’ve very easily won the series, because I believe we outpitched and outhit over the course of the game (on Sunday).”