MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Fraysure
561-430-7148, jfraysur@fau.edu
FAU Baseball Falls Just Short Again to UNF
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – (Feb. 27, 2019) – For the second straight day, the Florida Atlantic University baseball team fell behind early to North Florida. On Wednesday, a furious comeback gave the Owls a late lead, but UNF scored three runs in the eighth and held FAU off in the ninth, 9-8, in the series finale.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“A disappointing end to a hard-fought game. Again, some real good things happened, but we still can’t get out of innings. We give up a five-spot and three-spot in two innings; we have to learn to minimize the damage.”
The Turning Point
The Ospreys (7-3) scored first, in the second, but Eric Rivera immediately got that back with his second home run of the year in the third to tie it at 1-1. A five-run UNF fifth then pushed the lead back out to 6-1, but FAU (3-6) clawed all the way back in the seventh. Diamond Johnson led off with a double, and moved to third on a one-out Gunnar Lambert single. A walk loaded the bases, but a flyout put the Owls down to their final chance in the frame. They would capitalize: Joe Montes forced in a run as he was hit by a pitch; Wilfredo Alvarez did the same on a walk; a Francisco Urbaez single scored one; and a Jared DeSantolo flare two more to tie it at 6-6. Johnson got his second hit of the inning, a single up the middle, to give the Owls the lead.
The Finish
UNF loaded the bases in the seventh, but were turned away. That pattern wouldn’t hold true in the eighth, as three Osprey runs scored with two outs to push the home team back out ahead, 9-7. With one out in the Owl ninth, Urbaez mashed a homer to left to draw the team within one, but two straight strikeouts closed out the one-run game.
The Arms
· Jon Jon Kostantis had the best outing of his young career, giving up just a hit and a walk in 2 1/3 innings, striking out four
· The loss was pinned on Vince Coletti (0-2)
· Dylan O’Connell got the only batter he faced out to keep it at a three-run eighth
The Bats
· Both Urbaez and Johnson had three hits
· Urbaez recorded his first FAU home run; Johnson is now 5-for-10 to start the season
· For Rivera, his solo shot was the 14th of his Owl career
· Lambert added two hits; All nine slots in the lineup gained at least one hit towards a season-matching high 14
What’s Next
Friday night, at 6:30 p.m., the Owls hot Monmouth to start a weekend set. Tickets can be had by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
