BOCA RATON, Fla. – (April 23, 2019) – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team fell in the series opener Friday night to Old Dominion, 7-2.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Extremely disappointing night, I take full responsibility, our guys weren’t ready to play. From the first pitch, we gave up a three-spot in the first, it could’ve been worse. Relief pitching wasn’t good, we had chances to drive in guys … we made defensive errors. It was kind of shocking, honestly.”
The Turning Point
ODU (25-16, 8-11 Conference USA) scored three times in the first inning and wouldn’t relinquish the lead. Five singles, two scoring runs, along with a bases-loaded walk, brought all nine Monarchs to the plate. FAU’s (28-13, 14-5 C-USA) only scoring of the night came in the bottom half when Andru Summerall took a 2-2 offering over the fence in rightfield to cut it to one.
The Finish
That’s all the Owls would get, as ODU pitching scattered five hits over the final eight home innings. The Monarchs added one in the fifth and three more in the sixth, on a Vinnie Pasquantino home run.
The Arms
· Blake Sanderson (7-2) settled down after the first, allowing only four hits and a run in his final four innings of work. He struck out seven and walked two in five frames
· In the seventh, inheriting two on with one out, Dylan O’Connell walked one to load the bases, but then got a strikeout and groundout to leave three on
· Nick Swan pitched two scoreless innings: a 1-2-3 eighth, and despite two errors and a hit, left the bases loaded in the ninth as well
The Bats
· Three Owls had six of the team’s seven hits: Summerall, Joe Montes (who singled in the first and scored on the home run) and Bobby Morgensen, all with two apiece
· Pinch-hitter Jared DeSantolo doubled to lead off the ninth, but got no further
· Pedro Pages and Eric Rivera each drew a walk to extend their consecutive-game streak of reaching base to 22 and 17, respectively
What’s Next
Game two on Saturday starts at 4 p.m, with Mike Ruff taking the hill for FAU against Nick Pantos of the Monarchs. Buy tickets 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.
