CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Florida Atlantic baseball mounted a late-inning comeback to defeat Charlotte 3-2 on Friday night. The Owls have won four in a row and are 11-11 in C-USA.
THE BEGINNING
Charlotte opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning and added a second with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. FAU starter C.J. Williams kept his team in the game though through 5+ innings. Williams induced double plays in the third and fourth and struck out the side in the fifth.
On the other side of the rubber, the Owls’ offense had its hands full with CLT starter Wyatt Hudepohl. The hard-throwing righty struck out 11 FAU hitters in six innings. He conceded just two hits.
THE TURNING POINT
After 92 pitches for Hudepohl, the 49ers went to their bullpen to try and get the last nine outs. The Owls rallied in the eighth. Armando Albert and Jackson Ross drew back-to-back one-out walks. Nolan Schanuel slapped a single to left field to bring in Albert and get the visitors on the board. With two outs, John Schroeder lined a hard-hit ball to the right side where shifted CLT shortstop Jack Dragum couldn’t come up with it. Ross scored to tie the game.
Charlotte opened the bottom of the eighth with a single followed by back-to-back walks. Despite the bases being loaded with no outs, the Owls remarkably escaped the inning with the score still tied. Robert Wegielnik induced a slow roller back to the mound from Dragum for a rare 1-2-3 double play. After an intentional walk to load the bases again, Austin Knight struck out to end the inning.
THE FINISH
Spencer Rich drew a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth. He stole second and then third and scored the go-ahead run when CLT catcher Kaden Hopson’s throw got away from third baseman Brandon Stahlman.
Wegielnik retired the 49ers in order in the bottom of the ninth, closing out his third win of the season with a strikeout to end it.
THE ARMS
- Williams tied a season-high with seven strikeouts in his 5.2 innings.
- Sam Drumheller got the final out of the sixth and Hunter Cooley pitched a clean seventh.
- Wegielnik took over for Cooley after one batter in the eighth. The righty walked three but also struck out three in two innings.
THE BATS
- FAU and Charlotte finished with five hits each.
- Ross had two of the five hits for the Owls including a single and a double.
- Schroeder, Albert, and Schanuel contributed the other three.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Owls and 49ers play game two of the series at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
TICKETS
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