Ruddy Gomez will get the ball this Friday as UCF's Opening Knight starting pitcher. The right-hander was mostly in a bullpen role last season as he was coming off an injury, but he was previously a starter in his prior stops at St. Leo and Hillsborough Community College.

"It's been a lot of hard work to get here," Gomez said. "When I first got here, I was coming back from ACL surgery. I had to work my way up. It's been a long road. I'm proud of the work I've put in and how far I've come."

Gomez was humble about his status as first-day starter.

"I don't take it for granted, but the goal is the same. I want to help my team win no matter where I'm at, whether I'm starting, relieving or closing."

Gomez believes his biggest strides over the past year have been psychological, how he handles success and failure.

What's his best pitch?

"My slider. I really like my change-up too. I've been working on it all summer and winter. But I still love my slider."

At the recent media day, the shared sentiment among players is this can be a great team.

"We just want to compete really well," Gomez said. "We want to go out there and win. We want to dominate games. We want to play, fast, strong but clean baseball. That's what we want to do the most, go out there and dominate."