BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 31, 2019) – Florida Atlantic University baseball moved to the top of the Conference USA standings Sunday afternoon when Joe Montes doubled in Diamond Johnson for a walkoff win in the bottom of the 15th inning, defeating FIU 4-3 and sweeping the weekend series.
Sunday’s game is the second longest since the Owls have been in C-USA, with a complete 15-inning game three years ago at home versus Charlotte (April 10, 2016, a 7-6 loss). Speaking of Charlotte, the 49ers played to a curfew tie Sunday at WKU, 13-13, meaning the Hilltoppers are now 7-1-1 in league play, a half-game behind FAU.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“What a baseball game. Credit to FIU, I know things were not going their way this weekend … their guys made some really nice plays, our guys made some really nice plays. That was a really, really good baseball game and I’m proud of both teams. Happy we won, but I’m proud of both teams.”
The Turning Point
FIU (11-17, 2-7 C-USA), after leading 2-0 early but giving it up in the fifth, moved back ahead on a Jose Garcia home run in the sixth. FAU (19-9, 8-1 C-USA) knotted it back up in the eighth on a Montes RBI double with two outs, scoring Johnson, who had pinch-ran and stole second before the hit.
The Finish
The game was literally all zeroes after that until the winning hit. On the FAU side of things, Zach Schneider came on in the ninth and pitched all the way to the 14th, setting career highs of six innings, 109 pitches and six strikeouts. Michael Schuler relieved him in the 15th, and a double play (Jacob Josey to Francisco Urbaez to Gunnar Lambert) kept things tied, setting up the bottom half. Johnson singled through the left side with one out, and on the very first pitch he saw, Montes short-hopped the fence in leftfield to easily score the game-winning run
The Arms
· Nick Swan drew the Sunday start, allowing two runs in three innings before giving way to Jon Jon Kostantis
· After two scoreless, Kostantis gave up the then-go-ahead home run in the sixth, but nothing else
· In fact, that was all FAU pitching would give up, run-wise, in the game
· Vince Coletti was scoreless in the seventh and eighth, just a hit against him, and three strikeouts
· In Schneider’s six-inning stint, he scattered five hits, but had the six K’s against just one walk
· Schuler (1-0) picked up his first collegiate victory in his first decision
· Over the series, Owls’ pitching gave up just four runs in 33 innings, a 1.09 ERA, and limited FIU hitting to a .207 average. Included was 16 1/3 straight scoreless frames (from Friday’s fourth inning until Sunday’s second), and additionally, the final nine innings Sunday
The Bats
· Montes had three doubles in all, among the Owls’ nine hits
· He was the only hitter with more than one baseknock; with one each were Johnson, Summerall, Eric Rivera, Bobby Morgensen, Jared DeSantolo and Gunnar Lambert
· Morgensen had an RBI single in the fourth; Mitchell Hartigan plated a run with a squeeze bunt in the fifth
· Rivera actually reached four times, getting hit by a pitch twice, plus a walk
· Josey laid down three sacrifice bunts in the ballgame
What’s Next
Next week is four road games for the Owls: Away at Miami on Wednesday, and a trip to Charlotte over the weekend. The following week, there is no Tuesday/Wednesday game, just a home series hosting Louisiana Tech (April 12-14), with tickets available 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.
