BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University baseball was held off the board in a 1-0 defeat to Rice on Friday night.
THE BEGINNING
Hits, never mind runs, were hard to come by in a straight up pitcher’s duel between FAU’s Hunter Cooley and Rice’s Parker Smith. Rice had its best chance to score with two on in the first but came up empty. The home Owls had an opportunity in the bottom of the fourth after back-to-back singles to start the frame but were also denied after a lineout and two strikeouts.
THE TURNING POINT
The breakthrough finally came out of nowhere in the top of the sixth. Cooley quickly dispatched the first two hitters in the inning before Connor Walsh lined an 0-1 pitch off the scoreboard in right field for what turned out to be the only run of the night.
THE FINISH
Dylan Goldstein singled with two outs in the ninth inning to end Smith’s night and give FAU a glimmer of hope. Reliver Matthew Linskey induced a fly out from Caleb Pendleton however to end the game.
QUOTABLE
Head coach John McCormack
“That was a great game. Have to give credit to Parker Smith. That guy pitched great. We had the leadoff guy on in the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning and couldn’t move him around. I thought our guys played well, we had energy, we were aggressive. That guy was just really good.”
THE ARMS
- Cooley struck out seven in seven innings of work and conceded just three hits.
- On the other side, Smith made it through 8.2 with nine strikeouts and seven hits allowed.
- C.J. Williams pitched two scoreless frames in relief.
THE BATS
- Schanuel and Goldstein accounted for four of the Owls’ seven hits.
- Schanuel has now reached base in 22 straight games – a new career-high.
- Goldstein has a hit in 13 straight games.
- Mitchell Hartigan, Jackson Ross, and Lucas Phelps added the other three hits.
WHAT’S NEXTFlorida Atlantic and Rice will play game two at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
