Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
FIU
Baseball Sweeps FIU
5/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 19, 2007
Down by one run in the bottom of the eighth inning, seniors Justin Martin and Tyler Stevens sparked a come-from-behind win for Florida Atlantic University. The team completed a sweep of Florida International University with a 11-10 win on Saturday afternoon as eight players were honored before the game in their final contest at FAU Stadium.
With one out in the eighth inning and the bases loaded, Martin stepped to the plate. After working the count full, the Palm Beach Gardens, FL native tied the game at eight with a sacrifice fly to right field. That set the stage for fellow senior Stevens who delivered a two-run double to left centerfield to give the Owls a 10-8 advantage. Travis Ozga would pad the lead with a run that was eventually needed with a single.
After starting the game hot, the FAU offense quieted down before it posted the four runs in the eighth. In the first inning the team jumped ahead with five runs. Four of the runs came on two-run homers from Daniel Bomback and William Block. The duo have combine for 33 homers on the year and the four hitters in the middle of the FAU lineup each have at least 15 homers this season. Block has the most with 18.
In the midst of the inning, Robbie Widlansky picked up a single to break the FAU season hits mark with his 99th hit of the year. He finished the day 3-for-3 to raise his hit total to 101 and his batting average to .445.
FAU (35-20, 15-15 SBC) picked up a run in both the second and third innings off of FIU starter Walker Whitley before he was relieved by Evan Ellison. The freshman shut down door on the Owls as he did not allow a run on four hits through the next 3 2/3 innings.
Meanwhile, FIU (26-29, 12-7 SBC) slowly climbed back into the game. A run in each of the first two innings was followed by a two run third. All of the runs were charge to FAU starter Justin Phillabaum. The FAU relievers were charge with two runs in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings.
The Golden Panthers made the game interesting in the ninth as Luis Batista started the inning with a single. The no. 5 hitter, John Petika collected his seventh homer of the year to bring the game within one run off of FAU reliever Mike Obradovich.
Obradovich earned the win to improve to 9-4 on the year after 1 1/3 innings. Ellison suffered the loss to fall to 2-5 after 4 2/3 innings in which he allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out four. Daniel Bomback finished the day 4-for-5 with three runs scored for FAU and Mike McKenna extended his hit streak to 22 games with a 2-for-5 performance. Stevens and Travis Ozga both finished with three hits for the Owls and Ozga added three RBI.
The no. 1 hitter for FIU, Chris Dunn led the way with a 4-for-5 performance.
FAU enters the Sun Belt Tournament as the no. 6 seed and will face no. 3 Middle Tennessee at 10 a.m. et on Wednesday, May 23.
