BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – (March 22, 2019) – Florida Atlantic University baseball moved to 4-0 in Conference USA play and won the team’s ninth game in a row, defeating UAB on 9-6 Friday night at Regions Field.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“It’s a really good win on the road, first conference road victory on a Friday night dogfight. Offensively, it took a little while, but we came on. Mitchell Hartigan really gave us a spark I thought. We kept battling, were able to get some runs across, and we pitched enough. Credit to UAB, they kept fighting and I’m just glad we came out on top.”
The Turning Point
UAB (10-13, 0-4 C-USA) scored three through the first four, and Mitchell Hartigan made it a two-run game with his first collegiate home run in the fifth. In the top of the sixth, a bases-loaded walk cut it to one, and Eric Rivera lofted a ball to left that went in and out of the fielder’s glove to score three and give FAU their first lead.
The Finish
The teams traded runs the rest of the game, with Jared DeSantolo crushing a two-run homer in the FAU seventh, and Rivera and Francisco Urbaez notching RBI singles in the eighth. A run scored in the UAB ninth on a fielder’s choice groundout, but shortstop Jacob Josey put a bow on it with a nice play on a ball up the middle for the 27th and final out.
The Arms
· Blake Sanderson picked up his fifth win in as many decisions, striking out four and walking just one in 5 1/3
· Vince Coletti relieved him and stranded two inherited runners in scoring position in the sixth
· Similarly, in the eighth, Dylan O’Connell came on for Coletti, and with the bases loaded and two outs, induced a big inning-ending popout
· Zach Schneider pitched the ninth in a non-save situation
The Bats
· In addition to his first homer, Hartigan added a double, two walks and a career-best three runs scored. He now has a nine-game hitting streak, every game but his first appearance
· Joining him with two hits were Andru Summerall and Gunnar Lambert. Both reached three times; each had a single, double and was hit by a pitch
· DeSantolo scored twice, had two RBI and now has hit safely in 10 straight games (and reached in all of his last 12)
· Eight of the nine FAU starters had at least a hit
What’s Next
Game two against the Blazers begins at 3 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Mike Ruff will take the ball for the Owls against UAB’s Tanner Rusk. For tickets all FAU home games, call 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.
