Pages’ Home Run Pushes FAU Baseball to Win in 12 over UTSA
SAN ANTONIO – (May 7, 2019) – No. 24 Florida Atlantic University baseball and UTSA traded leads in the eighth and ninth, but key pitching and defense led to a Pedro Pages three-run home run in the 12th for an 8-5 Owl win in the opener of the Conference USA set at Roadrunner Field.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“Wow, what a game. Couldn’t ask for more drama than tonight. It just shows you what a great game baseball is, where Zach (Schneider) wasn’t great to start, then he was amazing to close the game out. And Pedro didn’t have a great night, then he hits the three-run homer. I always say this game is going to give you an opportunity, again. Whether it be the next day or later in the game, and the guys capitalized on it. I thought we played tough and gritty in tough conditions. I’m proud of the guys, we hung in there and we really needed tonight’s win to keep pace.”
The Turning Point
Trailing 2-1, UTSA (23-26, 10-14 C-USA) scored three times with two outs in the eighth for a 4-2 advantage. FAU (33-16, 18-7 C-USA) battled back to load the bases with no one out in the ninth. A fielder’s choice, with an error on top of it, scored two to tie it, and a sacrifice fly by Joe Montes made it 5-4 Owls. In the bottom half, an RBI single tied it, and the Roadrunners had the bases loaded and one out. But Zach Schneider got a strikeout and induced a groundout to third to send it to extras.
The Finish
Both teams were held off the scoreboard in the 10th and 11th, with the Owls aided by an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners in the former. Andru Summerall led the FAU 12th off with a walk, and one out later, Mitchell Hartigan singled through the right side. On a 2-2 pitch, Pages launched a no-doubt shot halfway up the netting beyond the leftfield fence for the lead. Though UTSA put two on with one out in the bottom half, two straight flyouts to Eric Rivera in centerfield stranded the 16th and 17th Roadrunners on the night.
The Arms
· Blake Sanderson pitched great to start, six innings of seven-hit, one-run ball with four strikeouts
· Vince Coletti threw a scoreless seventh before giving way to Schneider in the eighth
· Schneider (4-3) picked up the victory with a 4 2/3-inning stint
The Bats
· Pages and Summerall each drove in three; Summerall had put the Owls on the board with a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the seventh
· Wilfredo Alvarez continued his hot-hitting stretch as of late with two hits, and scored twice
· Bobby Morgensen also had two hits and reached three times
What’s Next
Saturday’s game is set for a 5 p.m. Eastern start (4 p.m. locally in San Antonio). This upcoming Tuesday, May 14, is the return home vs. UCF, with tickets available by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
