MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Fraysure
561-430-7148, jfraysur@fau.edu
FAU Baseball Procures Weekend Sweep with Sunday Win
BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 3, 2019) – Behind the arm of Mike Ruff and bats of the top three hitters in the Owls’ lineup, Florida Atlantic University baseball posted a 9-4 win Sunday to cement a sweep of visiting Monmouth, evening their season record at 6-6 in the process.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Good day, really good day for us, to get a sweep and kind of get back on track a little bit. I thought Mike Ruff threw exceptionally well. This is the best he’s thrown in an FAU uniform, especially after the second (inning). The first was really good, the second he had a little bit of trouble, things have a tendency to snowball on him. But then, the rest of the game, I thought he showed something … coming back out in the third, and he was really, really good from there. Proud of him, he’s worked hard (and) he deserves to have success.”
The Turning Point
In the first inning on both Friday and Saturday, two-run home runs opened the scoring for the Owls (6-6). Sunday was even better, as it was a three-run shot, with Pedro Pages going opposite field and over the scoreboard in right, after inning-opening singles by Eric Rivera and Gunnar Lambert. Monmouth (1-8) responded with four runs in the second, but their lead was short-lived. A three-run FAU second, with Lambert knocking in a run on a groundout, and Pages two more with a single to left, pushed the home team back out ahead. Ruff, who threw a 1-2-3 first, then went perfect from the third through sixth innings, and only allowed an infield hit in the seventh, closing out that frame for his longest outing ever as an Owl.
The Finish
One more Owl run came in the fifth, as Francisco Urbaez tripled, and came in on a Bobby Morgensen double. The last two came in the final FAU at-bat, with back-to-back two-out doubles by Wilfredo Alvarez and Rivera scoring one, and Lambert singling in another, in the bottom of the eighth. After Ruff, Zach Schneider came on for two scoreless innings, with just a hit against him, earning his first save of the season.
The Arms
· In addition to Sunday being his longest outing (and the longest by an FAU starter this season), Ruff also struck out nine, the most in his collegiate career
· At one point, he retired 14 in a row, and 16 of the last 17 batters he faced. Subtracting the second inning, the junior righthander retired 18 of a possible 19 batters, again, allowing just the infield single in his final inning
· Schneider was pitch-efficient, needing just 26 pitches for his six outs, and adding two more K’s
The Bats
· The top third of the FAU lineup combined were 9-for-14, scored five runs, and knocked in eight of Sunday’s nine RBI
· Rivera notched his second-four hit game of the week, and scored three times out of the leadoff spot. He has gone 11-for-22 in his last five games
· Right behind him in the order, Lambert went 3-for-4, and with two RBI, now has a team-best 13 on the season
· The three-hole hitter, Pages, matched his career high with five knocked in
What’s Next
The long homestand continues for the Owls Tuesday night, hosting Appalachian State for the first time in program history. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 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.
