BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 10, 2020) – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team, behind the pitching efforts of Hunter Cooley, Mike Entenza and Adrien Reese, shut out the visiting Penn Quakers Tuesday night at FAU Baseball Stadium, 5-0.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“What a well-pitched game. (Hunter) Cooley has another fantastic start to build on what’s been a really nice year for him. Then (Mike) Entenza came in and gave us a couple of innings, we’re able to break it open and get him out, and Adrien Reese finished it off … I thought we played good defense … but we’ve just got to be better offensively.”
Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac
The Turning Point
Cooley started things off with five scoreless frames before giving way to Entenza, doing the same for the next three. FAU’s (10-6) offense was stymied by Penn (3-5) pitching as well though, until Bobby Morgensen broke through with a two-run home run in the seventh. That was just the Owls’ second hit of the night to that point.
The Finish
The Owls played add-on in the eighth, getting a sacrifice fly from Mitchell Hartigan, and a full-count, two-out, two-run single by Nicholas Toney. Reese came on for the ninth and only gave up a leadoff single for FAU’s first shutout since March 30 of last year (1-0 over FIU).
The Arms
· Cooley was supremely efficient, needing just 57 pitches for five zeroes. He didn’t walk a batter, scattering five hits while striking out four
· The winner was Entenza (3-0). He racked up five K’s and allowed only two hits
· Reese capped off the game with the scoreless ninth
· FAU pitching issued no walks, didn’t allow a Penn runner past second, and threw a combined 84 of 107 total pitches for strikes (78.5%). Cooley’s ratio was 44 out of 57 (77.1%), Entenza 31 of 37 (83.8%) and Reese 9 of 13 (69.2%)
The Bats
· Morgensen’s tater was his third of the year
· In addition to the sac fly, Hartigan reached via an error in the first, twice by walk, and his single in the fifth was FAU’s first hit
· Morgensen had tied Toney for the team RBI lead with his home run; Toney took back the lead with the two-run single
· Andru Summerall had a single and drew two walks, and Francisco Urbaez got on twice with a single and a walk
