Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
New Orleans
Baseball Edges Privateers 10-9
4/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 22, 2007
The Florida Atlantic University baseball team defeated the University of New Orleans 10-9 on Saturday night.
The Owls (26-15, 8-12 Sun Belt) got out of the gates quickly with a four-run first inning. Daniel Bomback scored on a wild pitch by UNO starter Ryan O'Shea, followed by a three-run homerun by William Block. It was the second game in a row that Block hit a homer. New Orleans (26-13, 11-6) responded with a run in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 4-1.
Mike McKenna drove in Bomback and Robbie Widlansky on a triple in the third inning but was cut down attempting to advance home after the throw to third went wide. FAU added one run in each of the next two innings on RBI base hits by Justin Degnan and Travis Ozga. UNO cut the lead to 8-4 on a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth by Jarrod Ware.
The Privateers would add a run in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Jerad Comarda to cut the lead to 8-5. The Owls scored two more runs in the top half of the ninth on another UNO wild pitch and a two-out single by Block to give FAU a seemingly insurmountable 10-5 lead headed to the last half-inning.
The first two Privateers of the inning reached on a walk and a hit batter to end reliever Alex Pepe's night. Brandon Cooney would come in and strike out the next UNO batter before giving up a single to A.J. Baxter that led to a run after a fielding error by Travis Ozga. Cooney would walk a batter and give up an RBI-single before giving way to Joel Schmal. Schmal faced a bases loaded, 1-out jam as he entered the game. Brandon Tarnow lined a shot back to Schmal that he was able to snag for out number two.
Jerad Comarda came to the plate and roped a three-run double down the left field line that put the tying run on second base. Schmal then walked the possible winning run before striking out Jarrod Ware to seal the win.
Chris Salberg went seven innings for his third victory of the year. The Owls face New Orleans in the series finale tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. The game was originally slated for a 3 p.m. eastern start.
