MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Fraysure [email protected]
BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 15, 2019) – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team touched Rice ace Matt Canterino for four runs in the first, and made it hold up in a 4-2 Friday night win to open up the first Conference USA series of the season, at FAU Baseball Stadium.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Really good Friday night win to start conference. To get four runs off Canterino in the first … that guy’s really good. His stuff wasn’t great in the first inning, and we were able to capitalize, guys came out ready to go. Sandy (Blake Sanderson) didn’t have his best stuff, but made it hold up, and then (Dylan) Carter, (Vince) Coletti and (Zach) Schneider were really good.”
The Turning Point
After Blake Sanderson dealt a five-pitch perfect top half of the first, his FAU (12-7, 1-0 Conference USA) offense batted all the way through the lineup in the bottom. Eric Rivera led off with a hard-hit single, and an out later, came in on a Francisco Urbaez double into the leftfield corner. An Andru Summerall single put runners on the corners, and Pedro Pages made it 2-0 with a sac fly. The rally continued with two outs, as Jared DeSantolo singled and Joe Montes drew a walk to load the bases. Then, Mitchell Hartigan skied a flyball to shallow left, and three Rice (8-12, 0-1 C-USA) defenders couldn’t battle the sun, wind or themselves, as it dropped fair and allowed two more runs to score.
The Finish
Rice would score once in the fifth and the sixth, and a high pitch count and more walks than usual forced Sanderson out with a two-run lead after that final inning. Dylan Carter dealt a perfect seventh, Vince Coletti allowed a leadoff single but nothing more (inducing a flyout and recording two strikeouts), and Zach Schneider worked around a one-out single with a groundout and flyout to seal it.
The Arms
· Sanderson improved to 4-0, striking out five and scattering six hits
· Carter needed just 10 pitches for his 1-2-3 frame
· Coletti now has 27 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings and has given up just one run over his last six outings, spanning 9 1/3
· Schneider has five straight saves in as many outings, in the Owls’ last eight games. All five have been scoreless
The Bats
· Rivera (three), Urbaez (two) and Hartigan (also two) combined for seven of the team’s 10 hits
· Rivera is batting .395 on the year, and during his current eight-game hitting streak, is 18-for-33 (.545)
· Urbaez is at an even .400 overall, and recorded his team-high fifth double Friday. He is also slugging .767
· Hartigan has hit safely in his last six games, with five RBI in his last two
What’s Next
The series continues Saturday at 4 p.m., Mike Ruff (FAU) versus Evan Kravetz (Rice) as the pitching matchup. Get tickets 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.
