| GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 21 Florida Atlantic University baseball defeated No. 6 Florida on their home field, 3-2 in 10 innings, with three Owl pitchers holding the Gators to just five hits and totaling 14 combined strikeouts on Wednesday night. QuotableHead Coach John McCormack: “I thought we pitched very well, we made the plays (on defense), and offensively, we did the things we needed to do. TJ Stuart comes up here, gets his first start of the year, and gives us four very good innings. I thought Hunter Cooley was exceptional, and Mikey (Entenza) was Mikey, he’s rounding into shape. Really happy for him. I’m excited that we were able to hold on and win. That was a huge two-out hit by Mitch Hartigan. Good win for us, (Florida) is going to go on and have a nice year and it’s going to look good for the committee come NCAA time. Right now, we’ve got to get home and get prepared for Friday.” The Beginning The teams traded runs in the early going. FAU (7-1) scored in their first at-bat, with Mitchell Hartigan’s sac fly scoring Wilfredo Alvarez. The Gators (6-3) responded with a two-run home run in the second, only to have the Owls tie it up in the top of the third, with Alvarez again crossing, this time on an RBI single by B.J. Murray. The Turning Point / The Finish An Owls’ double play finished off the bottom of the ninth to send it to extras. In the 10th, Alvarez singled with one out, an error put runners on the corners, and Hartigan lined a two-out single into center to give FAU the lead. Mike Entenza finished off a three-inning outing with a 1-2-3 bottom half – including a diving catch by Jackson Wenstrom in center for the second out -punctuating it with a strikeout looking on a 3-2 count to end the game. The ArmsStuart drew the midweek start, and the home run he gave up was just one of three hits he allowed. He struck out six in four innings of workCooley threw three scoreless and had four punchouts. He threw 25 of 35 pitches for strikes to record his nine outsHe was lifted after giving up just his second hit, a leadoff single in the eighth. Entenza came on to get the next three batters out and strand the go-ahead run at secondIn picking up the win, Entenza (1-0) also struck out four, and only allowed a walk (erased on the double play) against the minimum of nine batters he facedThe BatsThe Owls’ 1-2 hitters, Alvarez and Murray, each had three hits, with Alvarez scoring all three Owl runsHartigan had two of the team’s other three hits (Wenstrom the other), and two of the three RBI (Murray the other)What’s NextThe Owls return home for games Friday and Sunday at FAU Baseball Stadium, against Florida Gulf Coast (the middle matchup on Saturday is at FGCU, in Fort Myers). Tickets remain available and can be had by visiting FAU’s baseball tickets website or by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS. |
