BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – (April 21, 2019) – Despite falling behind 3-0 early on the road, the No. 27 Florida Atlantic University baseball team pulled out the Sunday come-from-behind victory, topping WKU 6-4 to take the conference set.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Really nice win today, guys grinded this one out. I can’t say enough about how well (Jacob) Josey pitched and gave the offense a chance to get going. Big hits ruled the day; we scored via home run or two-out hits. Very proud of today’s performance.”
The Turning Point
Down by that 3-0 score, the Owls (27-12, 14-4 Conference USA) chipped away even while leaving 12 runners on in the first five innings, and the bases loaded in each of the first two. Solo home runs by Bobby Morgensen in the third and Joe Montes in the fourth cut it to one, and the tie came on an Andru Summerall RBI double in the sixth.
The Finish
The Owls took a short-lived lead on a run-scoring single on Joe Montes in the seventh, with WKU (18-19-1, 9-8-1 C-USA) tying it in the bottom half. But a two-run eighth, with both runs coming in on two outs, pushed FAU ahead for good. Mitchell Hartigan untied it with an RBI single to center, and Wilfredo Alvarez doubled down the rightfield line for cushion. Blake Sanderson dealt a scoreless eighth, and Zach Schneider the same in the ninth, to shut it down.
The Arms
· Jacob Josey came on in relief for his longest-ever outing, throwing three scoreless innings while the bats made the comeback
· Right after, Vince Coletti also went three, and picked up the win to go to 3-2 on the year. He struck out four, allowing only a run on two hits
· Sanderson’s scoreless eighth was 11 pitches with just a hit against him; Schneider also needed just 11 pitches, earning his 10th save and third in the last four games
The Bats
· Hartigan had three hits and the game-winning RBI. He also scored twice
· With two hits each were Alvarez, Montes and Francisco Urbaez
· Montes knocked in two runs and scored once, also reaching for a third time on a walk; Urbaez walked twice and was on four times, scoring a run as well
· All nine Owls reached. In addition to 12 hits, they drew seven walks, had three batters hit by a pitch, and had two runners reach on three WKU errors
What’s Next
A fifth straight road matchup looms on Tuesday, against Florida at 6 p.m. Next weekend, it’s a home C-USA series against Old Dominion, starting on Friday. Tickets are available 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.
