Arguably the most critical series of the USF baseball regular season began Thursday with Coach Mark Kingston absent.
For most of the evening, it appeared the rest of the Bulls might not show up either.
With Kingston serving the first of a five-game suspension, UCF pummeled Bulls pitchers for 15 hits -- including four early home runs -- in a 12-9 triumph delayed 107 minutes by area lightning.
USF (30-22-1, 11-11), which made things interesting with five ninth-inning runs off two UCF pitchers, must defeat the Knights today and Saturday to win its first American Athletic Conference series in more than a month.