BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball completed a sweep of Middle Tennessee on Sunday with a 7-5 victory. The Owls are 3-3 in Conference USA entering the third week of the league schedule.
THE BEGINNING
For the third straight game, Middle Tenn. scored first. Freshman Dylan Oborne made his FAU debut on the mound and conceded two unearned runs in the first inning. The Owls chipped away with a Jalen DeBose RBI single in the second.
It was 4-1 Blue Raiders entering the bottom of the third. Back-to-back singles by Mitchell Hartigan and Nolan Schanuel sparked the offense and Jackson Ross made it three straight, driving Hartigan in to make it 4-2. With Dylan Goldstein at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Schanuel to score.
Schanuel registered his second hit of the day in the next inning with a single to drive in DeBose and tie the game.
THE TURNING POINT
Nicholas Del Prado came on as the Owls’ third pitcher of the day in the fourth inning and stifled the MTSU offense for the next four and two-thirds innings.
With Del Prado in control on the pitching side, the offense took the lead for the first time in the sixth. With one out and runners at first and second, Caleb Pendleton dropped a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line. MTSU pitcher Justin Lee fired a high throw over the first baseman’s head allowing Ross to score the go-ahead run from second. The Owls would add one more on another MTSU error on a hard hit ball by Jake Millan.
THE FINISH
The Owls led 6-4 in the top of the eighth when MTSU made one last push to salvage the series. Consecutive singles followed by a sacrifice fly off Del Prado signaled the end of the Miami native’s day. Sam Drumheller entered to face the lone lefty in the Blue Raider lineup, but MTSU countered with a righty off the bench who lined a double to right-center. John McCormack went back to his bullpen one more time with Robert Wegielnik.
Wegielnik induced a fly out with runners at second and third to escape the jam. After the Owls added an insurance run in the bottom of the frame, Wegielnik finished the job in the ninth by retiring the side in order.
THE ARMS
- Del Prado earned his first win of the season. He allowed four hit and one run in 4.2 innings with three strikeouts as well.
- In his first appearance in an FAU uniform, Oborne threw 20 pitches, allowed one hit and walked one. Both runs against were unearned.
- Brandon Smith pitched the second and third innings and conceded two runs on four hits.
- Wegielnik picked up his second save of the season.
THE BATS
- Schanuel singled twice and doubled to extend his reached-base streak to 21 games.
- Goldstein finished 2-for-3 and stretched his hitting streak to 11 games.
- Ross recorded his third straight multi-hit game (2-for-5).
- DeBose drove in a run for the second straight game and finished 2-for-3.
- John Schroeder pinch hit in the eighth inning and lined a single up the middle to drive in a run.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Owls will welcome UCF to town on Tuesday to complete the season series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Rice visits next weekend as C-USA play continues.
TICKETS
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