CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Florida Atlantic baseball nearly rallied from eight runs down on Tuesday night at No. 16 Miami but ultimately came up short in a 12-9 defeat. The Owls and Hurricanes split the season series 2-2 with the home team winning each game.
THE BEGINNING
The Owls fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but cut the deficit in half in the second. In his first at-bat since February 24, Spencer Rich lined an RBI single up the middle to score John Schroeder.
The high-powered Canes’ offense struck again for four more runs in the second inning. After back-to-back singles and a walk scored one run, Yohandy Morales connected for a three-run homer to put UM up 6-1.
FAU got three of those runs back in the top of the third. Nolan Schanuel and Dylan Goldstein drew back-to-back walks to set up Schroeder who lined his fifth home run of the season to the opposite field.
THE TURNING POINT
With the Owls within two, Miami exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Hurricanes hit four home runs in the inning including three in a row at one point. After eight hits and 11 men came to the plate, Braden Ostrander finally put the fire out and closed the frame with two strikeouts and a pop out.
THE FINISH
The six-run fourth was the conclusion of Miami’s scoring for the night. Four FAU pitchers combined to hold the Hurricanes off the board the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the offense chipped away at the 12-4 deficit.
Goldstein connected for a two-run homer in the fifth. In the seventh, Schroeder drove in his fourth run of the night with a sac fly and Mitchell Hartigan scored Goldstein with a base hit.
The Owls had one last chance to complete the comeback in the eighth. Rich drew a leadoff walk, Armando Albert singled to the opposite field with one out, and Jackson Ross worked another walk to load the bases. Miami turned to hard-throwing closer Andrew Walters with the tying run at the plate in the form of Nolan Schanuel. Walters won the battle of future top draft picks with a strikeout. Though he hit Goldstein with a pitch to bring a run across, he fanned Schroeder to get out of the jam. The Owls went down in order in the ninth.
QUOTABLE
Head coach John McCormack
“We didn’t minimize their big innings in the second and the fourth but despite that… we had the tying run and the winning run in the box after everything that went on. I give our guys credit. We fought back. We forced them to bring in the best closer in the country on a short week for them… they really wanted to win this game. They had to throw their best guy to beat us. They didn’t think they would’ve needed to do that earlier in the game. No moral victories at this point but I am proud of the guys the way they fought back.”
THE ARMS
- Ostrander and Dawson Ball tossed two scoreless inning each to get the Owls through the seventh inning.
- Robert Wegielnik retired the heart of the Miami lineup in the eighth inning with a strikeout and two fly outs.
THE BATS
- Schroeder finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs.
- Schanuel and Goldstein scored three runs each. Schanuel also extended his reached-base streak to 37 games.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Owls face FIU for the second time this season in C-USA play at home this weekend.
TICKETS
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