Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
Tennessee
Baseball Splits with Tennessee
2/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 5, 2006
With a 6-5 win in the second game of a doubleheader against no. 9 Tennessee, Florida Atlantic University managed a split with the Volunteers, Sunday afternoon at FAU Stadium. FAU hit three home runs in game two after dropping game one 9-8.
William Block (Pembroke Pines, FL) picked up his first collegiate hit, a home run in the second inning of game two to give the Owls a 2-0 lead for starting pitcher Joel Schmal (Highland, IN). Catcher Alex Silversmith (Coral Springs, FL) followed three batters later with a two-run shot of his own, his first home run as an Owl, to give FAU a 4-0 lead. The last two runs of the game came off of a home run from senior Anthony Albano
Schmal (1-0) set the tone early as he only gave up two hits in the first four innings to the Vols. The left-hander ran into trouble in the fifth inning as he gave up five hits and walked a batter to be chased from the game. Senior Will Mann doused the UT momentum by getting a fly out and a double play to end the inning. Mann (West Palm Beach, FL) did not allow a run in his 2 1/3 innings of work.
Brandon Cooney entered to work the final 2/3 innings of the contest to earn his first save of the year. With runners on first and second, Cooney struck out the first batter he faced and got Michael Rivera to ground out to end the game.
"Schmal came out and established a good tone for the game," said FAU head coach Kevin Cooney. "The first three innings he shut guys down but then hit a wall in the fifth. Will came out and did a good job but we wanted a change of velocity in the seventh so we brought [Brandon] Cooney in."
Deunte Heath (0-1) suffered the loss for UT as he gave up six runs on six hits in three innings.
Tony Delmonico led the Vols' offense with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, while Ryne Simpson finished with a team-leading two RBI on a single in the fifth inning with the bases loaded.
Tennessee (2-1) jumped up 3-0 in game one after Chris Salberg recorded strikeouts against the first two batters of the game. Two singles and three walks hurt the junior pitcher, but FAU (1-2) battled back with five runs in the second and third innings. To lead off the third Alex Fonseca and Mike McBryde recorded back-to-back singles. After UT starter Josh Lindblom recorded one of his three strikeouts. Ovy Ramirez, Mike McKenna and Robbie Widlansky followed with consecutive doubles to push across four runs.
Ramirez finished the game going three-for-five with two RBI and compiled five hits in nine at bats for the series.
The teams traded runs through the fifth inning before a two run sixth gave the Vols the lead for good. Reliever Brandon Cooney (0-1) hit the first batter of the inning and then recorded a strikeout as Tony Delmonico stole second. An RBI single by Ryan Jones tied the game and Jones eventually came around to score on an error for the 8-7 lead. The Volunteers would score another unearned run in the seventh inning as FAU committed four errors in the contest.
Reliever Craig Cobb (1-0) picked up the win with 2 1/3 innings and two strikeouts. By striking out four in the final two innings, Sean Watson picked up his first save of the year.
Southern Illinois will be the next opponent for Florida Atlantic. The two teams will play a three-game series beginning Friday at 7 p.m. at FAU Stadium.
