BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 4, 2020) – Hunter Cooley pitched into the seventh in a career-long effort, and Nicholas Toney, Jackson Wenstrom and Francisco Urbaez all had multi-hit, multi-RBI games as Florida Atlantic University baseball knocked off No. 6 Miami, going away, 11-2 on Wednesday night at FAU Baseball Stadium.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“I thought (the guys) played fantastic, I was really proud of them. Hunter Cooley was amazing. We were able to score some runs, and the one thing we weren’t able to do last night (against Florida) is we weren’t able to tack on some runs … but tonight, we were able to continue to add on and made things a little bit easier for Hunter.”
Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac
https://fausports.com/showcase/embed.aspx?Archive=3478
The Turning Point
FAU (8-4) got into the scoring column first, with a Wenstrom RBI single and Wilfredo Alvarez sacrifice fly in the third. UM (8-4) halved the deficit in the fourth, but a two-out Toney run-scoring single made it 3-1 in the bottom half of that same inning. The Owls added on with three more in the sixth: Toney doubled in one run, Wenstrom singled in another, and a third came in on a wild pitch.
The Finish
Cooley (1-0) was cruising, scattering four hits through six, and at one point retiring eight in a row and 10 of 11. He ran into a bit of trouble in the seventh, on two singles and a two-out walk to load the bases. Mike Entenza came on in relief, walking one batter, but then got a strikeout to leave them loaded. The Owls poured it on after that, with a five-spot in the eighth, three of which came on an Urbaez home run to left.
The Arms
· Cooley’s final line was a career-long 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with another career best of five strikeouts
· He had 1-2-3 innings in the first, fifth and sixth, and only just one baserunner reached in the second and third
· This also marked the longest outing by an FAU starter this season
· Entenza struck out three batters in 1 1/3, and has 22 K’s in 12 1/3 on the year
· Evan Waterbor closed it out, striking out two in a scoreless ninth
The Bats
· Urbaez, Toney and Wenstrom combined for eight of FAU’s nine hits, and knocked in seven of the team’s eight RBI
· Toney went double-single-double in his first three at-bats. He scored twice and had two RBI
· The three hits is a new single-game best for the sophomore
· Wenstrom was 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and two batted in
· Urbaez’s line was 3-for-5, a run scored and the three RBI
· Alvarez had a single, walked twice, had the sacrifice fly and a sacrifice bunt. His streak of reaching base has now reached 20 games in a row
What’s Next
FAU will take on Northeastern this weekend is a three-game series, starting Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Get tickets by visiting HERE or 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 4-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 52-28 victory over SMU in the 2019 Cheribundi 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.
