FAU Baseball Walks Off Senior Weekend Opener to Cap Late Rally

BOCA RATON, Fla. – (May 16, 2019) – Trailing 4-0 through six a half innings, No. 29 Florida Atlantic University baseball scored three times, eventually tied it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and won it in walkoff fashion in the 11th to drop the magic number for a Conference USA regular season championship to one.

Because of UAB’s extra inning win over Southern Miss, an Owl win or USM loss Friday would clinch at least a share of the title plus give FAU the No. 1 seed in next week’s C-USA Championship.

NOTE: Saturday’s finale has already been moved up, from a 1 p.m. to a noon start.

Quotable

Head Coach John McCormack:

“Wow, what a game. Didn’t start out great, guys kinda kept in it, had some really, really good relief pitching. (Vince) Coletti, (Hunter) Cooley, DO (Dylan O’Connell) and Zach (Schneider) was amazing … Really good game, proud of the guys, but we’ve got to be better early in the game.”

The Turning Point – The First One

Working on a three-hit shutout, Middle Tennessee (18-35, 11-17 C-USA) starter David Zoz came back out for the seventh but issued a leadoff walk and another with one out. On his 117th pitch of the night, Andru Summerall rocketed a double into the rightfield corner to halve the deficit. The Owls added another run on a two-out opposite field single by Bobby Morgensen to cut it to one.

The Turning Point – The Second One

In the bottom of the ninth, Eric Rivera drew a one-out walk, with Summerall hit by a pitch right after. Two batters later, it was Morgensen again with two outs, on a single to right to tie things. Zach Schneider got six of the seven batters he faced out, setting up the bottom of the 11th.

The Finish

Rivera’s single to center, to start the bottom half, was his sixth time reaching base on the night. His first heads-up baserunning exploit of the inning came when he tagged from first to second on a deep flyball from Summerall, which necessitated an intentional walk of Pedro Pages. Again, MT was able to record a second out, bringing up Joe Montes. He hit a slow roller to shortstop and was able to beat out the throw, and Rivera never broke stride around third, sliding headfirst around the Blue Raider catcher for the game-winning run.

The Arms / The Gloves

·         Blake Sanderson’s final start at FAU Baseball Stadium lasted five innings. He gave up three earned runs and struck out seven

·         From there, it was all zeroes. Four FAU relievers combined for six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and a total of only four baserunners

·         Vince Coletti was first, striking out two in the seventh. He walked one, while one runner reached on a dropped third strike

·         Included in the frame was Morgensen robbing MT’s Myles Christian of a home run, going up and over the rightfield fence with a perfectly-timed leap

·         After Coletti with a tremendous outing was freshman lefty Hunter Cooley: six up, six down on 17 pitches

·         Dylan O’Connell allowed the only hit among the group, and it was a bunt single to start the ninth. That runner would be thrown out stealing by Pages, and Morgensen retired the next batter on a full-out dive in the right-centerfield alley, followed by a strikeout

·         Schneider (5-3) picked up the win, only issuing a leadoff walk before retiring the next six in order. He had the last two of the Owls’ collective 13 strikeouts

The Bats

·         Rivera’s night saw him single twice, walk four times, and score three of the Owls’ five runs

·         Summerall and Morgensen combined to reach seven times while recording all four of FAU’s RBI

·         Morgensen was 2-for-4 with two walks; Summerall had the two-run double, plus twice was hit by a pitch

·         Montes also had a two-hit game

What’s Next

Friday’s middle matchup will begin at 6:30 p.m. and feature starters Mike Ruff of FAU and MT’s Peyton Wigginton. Get 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.