BILOXI, Miss. – (May 26, 2019) – No. 29 Florida Atlantic University baseball’s run at the Conference USA Championship came to an end in the title game, as the Owls were shut out by Southern Miss, 4-0, on Sunday. FAU (40-19) will now turn its attention to the NCAA Selection Show, Monday at noon, to learn its further postseason fate.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“The difference was the beginning of the game. We had bases loaded, one out, we weren’t able to convert. (Southern Miss) was able to convert, so congratulations to them. We’ve got to be better, we had some opportunities. Our thing is, we gotta score runs and we weren’t able to do it, but credit to USM’s pitchers, they did a great job.”
The Turning Point
In the opening frame, the Owls loaded the bases with one out, but a USM (38-19) double play snuffed out the threat. The Golden Eagles immediately scored a run in their next turn, and two more in the third, for a 3-0 lead.
The Finish
For the Owls’ offense, the pattern continued, with runners on in every inning but the fifth, and all stranded. USM added an insurance run in the seventh to make it a four-run spread. It could have been five, but to wrap the ninth, Eric Rivera threw out Danny Lynch trying to score from second on a perfect no-hop throw from center. In the final FAU at-bat, with one out, pinch-hitter Jared DeSantolo singled to center, followed by a double to right by Wilfredo Alvarez. But a strikeout and groundout sealed the win for the Golden Eagles.
The Arms
· Starter Eric Keating (1-1) took the loss, pitching into the third, before giving way to Vince Coletti
· Inheriting bases loaded and no one out, Coletti induced two groundouts, one scoring a run. His final line was four no-hit innings with three strikeouts
· After hitting a batter to start the seventh and that runner reaching second on a sac bunt, Coletti came out. That eventual insurance run would go on his ledger
· Dylan O’Connell finished it out with 2 2/3 innings, throwing scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth
The Bats
· The Owls had 10 hits and stranded 11 runners
· The top two hitters in the lineup, Eric Rivera and Andru Summerall, each had two hits
· Francisco Urbaez was on twice also, on a hit and a walk
· Alvarez’s ninth-inning double was the team’s only extra base hit
All-Tournament
Named to the week’s All-Tournament squad for the Owls were Urbaez, Pedro Pages, Mike Ruff and Nick Swan.
What’s Next
The NCAA Selection Show will be live on ESPNU, or WatchESPN, at noon on Monday, and will reveal the 64 teams selected for 16 nationwide regional sites. The Owls hope to be one of 33 teams to receive an at-large bid.
– 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.
