BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team, behind eight shutout innings from Javi Rivera, and an eighth-inning home run by B.J. Murray, snapped their losing streak with Sunday’s 4-0 win over Old Dominion.
In the process, the Owls (16-16, 5-7 Conference USA) also halted a 10-game winning streak for ODU (24-6, 10-2 C-USA), who was 11-0 on the road coming into the series finale.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“What a performance by Javi Rivera, that was fantastic. Not only for him, but for us, we really, really needed it coming into today. The starting pitching has been, besides (Hunter) Cooley, beaten around a little bit, and (Rivera) did a really, really good job. (He was) under control, he got into some traffic and was able to navigate through it. Really proud of him.”
The Beginning
It was a good, old-fashioned pitcher’s duel between Rivera and Ryne Moore of ODU for the entirety of each of their starts. The Owls did load the bases with one in the sixth, but Moore got out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play. In the seventh, again FAU put three on, but a two-out strikeout looking squelched that rally. Meanwhile, Rivera’s last frame was a 1-2-3 eighth, and he retired six of the last seven he faced (striking out the side in the seventh as well).
The Turning Point
Finally, the Owls were the first bats to break through, as in the eighth, Nolan Schanuel walked, and Murray brought him in with a long drive to left-center. Two more insurance runs came in, on Sam Low’s RBI single – his third hit of the day – and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Wilfredo Alvarez.
The Finish
ODU threatened in the ninth, with a double and two straight hit batters loading the bases with one out. But reliever Braden Ostrander recovered with two straight strikeouts to complete the shutout and snap the Owls’ streak.
The Arms
- Rivera (3-0) had his best outing as an Owl, allowing just three hits, two walks and two hit batters in his eight innings of work. He struck out seven
- He held the ODU squad, batting .299 in the series coming in with 25 runs scored, to a 3-for-25 day (.120), and lefthanded batters went 0-for-11 against the righty
- Further, the Monarchs were 0-for-9 with runners on against him, and 1-for-8 when batting with two outs
- Ostrander struck out the side in the ninth to total 10 K’s for FAU pitching
- Behind the plate, catcher Shane Magrann threw out two ODU baserunners, one attempting to steal second, and the other, he picked off first
The Bats
- Murray’s bomb was his 10th of the season and extended his reached-base streak to 15 straight. His two RBI gives him 38 on the year, two behind Schanuel for the team lead
- The home run was his first batting righthanded this year, with his last nine (all nine HR in 2021) coming from the left side. Only three of his 14 career homers have been righthanded
- Low had a double and two singles, knocked in one and scored once
- Mitchell Hartigan, like Murray, saw his on-base streak continue with a late HBP. He’s now at 17 games and counting
- The other hits Sunday came from Alvarez, Magrann and Cade Parker. Magrann also stole a base and was hit twice by pitches
What’s Next
The Owls travel to Birmingham, Alabama, next weekend to take on the UAB Blazers. Friday’s opener is a 7 p.m. start, the Saturday doubleheader will be at 2 p.m., and the Sunday finale at noon. After a second weekend away, at FIU (April 23-25), FAU’s next turn at home is also against FIU, April 30-May 2. Get tickets by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by logging on to FAU’s baseball tickets website.
