ORLANDO, Fla. – (April 16, 2019) – No. 27 Florida Atlantic University baseball handed UCF their first midweek loss of the season with 5-3 comeback win Tuesday night at John Euliano Park.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Really good win on the road here at UCF. Guys played well, we got off to a little bit of a rocky start being down 2-0, and guys just kept fighting back. I think the star of the game has got to be Dylan O’Connell. Longest outing in college, got us some really important outs. It was an impressive win for us.”
The Turning Point
UCF (22-15) got on the board first with two in the third, and the Owls (25-11) didn’t muster much against their starter. But the first two turns to the Knights bullpen provided zero outs, and contributed to four FAU runs. After a walk to Francisco Urbaez, Andru Summerall blasted one through the wind and over the rightfield fence for the tie. Pedro Pages was hit by a pitch, and pinch-hitter Bobby Morgensen tripled him in for the lead. The third UCF pitcher of the inning finally got the first out, but it was run-producing, as a Joe Montes sacrifice fly extended the edge to 4-2.
The Finish
The Knights cut it to one in the seventh, but a strikeout by Zach Schneider kept the tying run at second. Another Montes sac fly in the eighth pushed it back out to two, and Schneider retired six of the last seven batters he faced, three by strikeout. That included the 27th and final out of the game, dropping UCF to 9-1 in midweek matchups.
The Arms
· Dylan Carter drew the start, and allowed one earned run in 2 1/3, striking out two
· Next and going a career-long was Dylan O’Connell, also 2 1/3 innings and scoreless. He allowed just one hit and also had 2 K’s
· Vince Coletti (2-1) earned the win with 1 1/3 perfect frames, and he had another punchout
· Schneider earned his eighth save with three innings of two-hit, one-run ball with five strikeouts
The Bats
· Off the bench, Morgensen was the only Owl with two hits, plus a run scored and RBI
· Montes had two RBI, as did Summerall (on his fourth home run)
· Pages scored twice, reaching on two walks and a HBP
What’s Next
The Owls stay on the road to play WKU in Bowling Green, Kentucky, this Friday through Sunday. After another trip north to Florida in the midweek, the return home is April 26-28, hosting Old Dominion. 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.
