BOCA RATON, Fla. – (April 12, 2019) – The No. 24 Florida Atlantic University baseball team left 12 runners on base, with tying runs either on base or at the plate in the last two innings, falling to Louisiana Tech Friday night in the opening game of three, 5-3.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Good Friday night game, credit to LA Tech. As I told the team, we had plenty of opportunities and we weren’t able to get that hit or two that we needed; they did. They got first and second, got the three-run homer and that was the difference in the game and we weren’t able to do the same thing. Back at it tomorrow, it’s the first time we’ve been in this situation (falling on a Friday night in conference), guys need to respond.”
The Turning Point
The Bulldogs (23-10, 9-4 Conference USA) struck first, in the first, on an infield single with two outs to score a run from second. Despite having runners on in each off the first three innings, all under two outs, it took until the fourth for FAU to scrape one in, on a two-out single by Gunnar Lambert to plate Bobby Morgensen. The aforementioned three-run home run came off the bat of Mason Mallard in the fifth, giving LA Tech a 4-1 lead.
The Finish
A Mitchell Hartigan home run for FAU (23-10, 11-2 C-USA) in the seventh was immediately answered by the Bulldogs with a solo shot of their own in the eighth. The Owls’ best comeback opportunity came in the home eighth, loading the bases with one out. But two strikeouts (sandwiched around a walk to force in a run) limited the damage, and an inning-opening walk in the ninth got no further than first.
The Arms
· Blake Sanderson suffered his first loss of the year, dropping to 7-1. He completed seven innings and allowed four runs, striking out three
· Lefthander Dylan O’Connell gave up a solo shot in the eighth
· Vince Coletti pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts
The Bats
· Hartigan and Lambert, besides having the team’s first two RBI, each had two hits. So too did Francisco Urbaez, and he reached for a third time on a walk
· Eric Rivera drew the bases-loaded walk to produce the eighth-inning run
· Pedro Pages extended his reached-base streak to 14 games with a walk in that same frame
What’s Next
Game two, and the attempt to knot the series up for FAU, begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the pitching matchup of Mike Ruff and Logan Robbins. Tickets are still 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, visitwww.fau.edu.
