FAU Baseball Takes Opener in Biloxi

BILOXI, Miss. – (May 22­, 2019) – The top-seeded and No. 29 Florida Atlantic University baseball team outlasted UTSA on Wednesday night in the opening round of The First 2019 C-USA Baseball Championship, winning 6-5 despite the Roadrunners having the bases loaded with one out in the ninth inning.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:

“What a game, two of the First Team All-Conference guys square off and they don’t factor in (the end). Our guys kept charging, their guys kept charging, and we get the double play at the end … It’s a great victory.”

The Turning Point

The Owls (38-18) scored twice in the first and second innings, but UTSA (26-29) scrapped back with three in the third to cut it to one. FAU went back up by two on an Eric Rivera single in the third, but the Roadrunners got two more – one in the fourth and another in the sixth – to tie the game at 5-5 heading into the bottom of the sixth. In that frame, Pedro Pages led off with a single, and a fielder’s choice and flyout put two outs on the board, but a single by Mitchell Hartigan and walk to Joe Montes loaded the bases. The Owls would then take the lead on a wild pitch.

The Finish

Both teams were kept off the board for the seventh and eighth, with each half of the seventh going 1-2-3 (the only two frames that went that way on the night). A single and sacrifice put the tying run on second for UTSA in the eighth, and the Owls turned to Zach Schneider, who ended the frame with consecutive strikeouts. The Roadrunner ninth started with a double and an error, putting runners at second and third. Schneider struck out the lefthanded-batting Ryan Stacy, then issued an intentional walk to load the bases. The gamble paid off, as two pitches later, Bryan Sturges grounded into a game-ending double play, with Francisco Urbaez stepping on the second base bag and throwing to first to clinch the win.

The Arms

·         Blake Sanderson (8-2) got the win despite giving up a season high in earned runs

·         Dylan O’Connell pitched the flawless seventh

·         For Schneider, it was his 15th save, and included three punchouts

The Bats

·         Four Owls had two hits towards the team’s 10: Rivera, Urbaez, Andru Summerall and Mitchell Hartigan

·         Rivera scored twice out of the leadoff slot

·         Urbaez got the scoring started with a single in the first; Hartigan followed with an RBI groundout

·         In the second, Summerall plated one with a single while Pages added a sac fly

What’s Next

The Owls will play in the fourth game on Thursday, scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, against the winner of Old Dominion and WKU.

– 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.