| RUSTON, La. – Florida Atlantic University baseball rapped 20 hits and scored the game’s last 11 runs in a comeback victory over Middle Tennessee, winning 14-8 to stay alive at the 2021 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Championship. Quotable Head Coach John McCormack: “It’s a really tremendous win, in context of the situation … in an elimination game, we did fight back, but we did need our pitching to step up more. Offensively, Caleb Pendleton stepped up, (Steven) Loden, (Bobby) Morgensen and more stepped up. We had 20 hits, but pitching-wise, we’ve got to do better. All in all, it’s a win, we move on. In tournament play, it’s a really good win.” The Beginning The Owls (32-24) went ahead early, 3-0 in the second, on a Bobby Morgensen solo home run to lead things off, a Caleb Pendleton single followed by a Jalen DeBose RBI double, and a Jackson Wenstrom single to plate DeBose. But MT (24-29-1) got a run in the third and fourth, and a three-run home run in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead. Back-to-back Owl home runs tied it in the sixth, by Pendleton to center and Mitchell Hartigan off the train tracks in right. Again though, the Blue Raiders answered, scoring three in the seventh to move back ahead, 8-5. A potential further run though was thrown out, to end the inning, a one-hopper from centerfield by Wenstrom. The Turning Point Up three, the Blue Raiders turned to First Team All-C-USA closer David Zoz, and the Owls pounced on him. Wilfredo Alvarez doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Nolan Schanuel infield single. A Steven Loden laser homer to right scored two, and two batters later, Pendleton went the opposite way for his second home run of the day and the lead. The Finish MT got two on with one out in the eighth, but a key 4-6-3 double play ended the inning. And FAU poured on insurance in the bottom half, to the tune of five runs: B.J. Murray’s RBI single, a two-run double by Schanuel, an RBI double by Loden, and Pendleton’s fourth hit of the day, a run-scoring single up the middle. Brycen Allen was called upon in the ninth, and was perfect, getting three outfield flyouts on just eight pitches to retire the Blue Raiders in order. The Arms Visconti (5-2) earned the win, with 1 1/3 scoreless inningsAllen closed it out with six strikes among his eight pitches, with the last two outs needing just three offerings to end the game The Bats All nine Owls got a hit and scored, and all of them reached base at least twiceEight had multi-hit games, led by Pendleton with four, and Loden’s three, towards the team’s 20-hit showing, the most for the squad all yearWith two hits each were Murray, Schanuel, Morgensen, Hartigan, DeBose and WenstromEleven of the 20 hits went for extra bases, six doubles (tying the season most) and five home runs (the new season high)Another season high was recorded with 41 total basesEight of the nine Owls had at least one RBI as well; Schanuel, Loden and Pendleton all had three-RBI gamesPendleton also led the team with three runs scored, while Schanuel, Loden and DeBose each scored twiceZoz had given up just seven earned runs in 40 2/3 innings (and 23 appearances) and had a .193 average against coming in. On Friday, the Owls went 8-for-11 against him (.727) for eight earned runs, one more than his entire season total What’s Next The Owls move on to play Old Dominion in Saturday’s first game, 10 a.m. Eastern. They will need to defeat the Monarchs twice on Saturday (if the second game is needed, it would be at 5 p.m. Eastern) to move on to Sunday’s championship game. |
