BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Feb. 21, 2019) – Florida Atlantic University baseball trailed 8-2 going into their next-to-last at-bat, in the bottom of the eighth. A half-hour and seven batters later, it was tied, and a walkoff sacrifice fly in the ninth propelled the Owls to 5-0 after their 9-8 Friday night win over Binghamton.
Quotable
Head Coach John McCormack:
“An exciting game, I’m happy we won, but we didn’t play well. We made a fair amount of mistakes both on the mound and in the field, and the offense bailed us out … The guys really, really showed some heart, (including) Alex Arauz with the three-run homer. In the end, the Owls win, and that’s a good thing.
Full Opening Statement from Coach Mac
https://fausports.com/showcase/embed.aspx?Archive=3461
The Turning Point
BU (0-4) put up consecutive three-run innings in the sixth and seventh to take an 8-2 lead, and at that point, had held the FAU (5-0) offense to two runs on three hits. But, back-to-back singles to start the eighth by Francisco Urbaez and Wilfredo Alvarez preceded a Bobby Morgensen double to score them both; Mitchell Hartigan cut it to three with an RBI single; and Alex Arauz tied it with a three-run blast to left.
The Finish
Mike Entenza threw a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 top of the ninth, setting up the bottom half. A walk to Morgensen, and hit-by-pitch of Andru Summerall put the first two on, with Morgensen advancing to third on a deep flyout by BJ Murray. Then Hartigan hit a sinking liner to right that was ruled a catch, with Morgensen tagging and scoring the game-winner.
The Arms
· Jacob Josey pitched into the sixth in the longest start by an Owl on the young season
· After the Bearcats had moved ahead by six, Zach Asnes came on to get the last out of the seventh to strand another potential run
· In his FAU debut, the righthander then pitched a scoreless eighth, including his first-ever strikeout as an Owl
· Entenza (2-0) went strikeout-flyout-groundout in his perfect ninth to pick up the win for the second straight game
The Bats
· Arauz’s second home run of the season came as part of a four-RBI night, as he had doubled in Hartigan in the fifth as well
· Hartigan reached that inning on FAU’s first hit of the game, a triple into centerfield. He finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and the game-winning RBI
· Urbaez, Alvarez and Morgensen all extended their hit streaks to all five games this year
· FAU hitters drew as many walks on the night – eight – as hits, with five of their eight hits coming in the eighth
What’s Next
The middle matchup with the Bearcats will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the pitching matchup of Corey Ireson for FAU against BU’s Jack Collins.
– 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 4-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 52-28 victory over SMU in the 2019 Cheribundi 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, visitwww.fau.edu.
