Florida Atlantic Tops Reigning Sun Belt Champs

Sunday, March 16

Boca Raton, Fla.

1:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Louisiana

3/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

March 16, 2008

Box Score | Team Notes

BOCA RATON, FL - Florida Atlantic knocked off Louisiana-Lafayette 9-2 Sunday, taking two-of-three from the Cajuns, winners of the Sun Belt Conference title in 2007 and preseason picks to win the league again in 2008.

Florida Atlantic (10-6; 3-1 SBC) boasts one of the nation's best offenses, hitting .326 as team and averaging nearly nine runs per game.

FAU pounded ULL pitching for 35 hits during the three-game series, 12 for extra-bases and scored 25 runs. The Owls have won 10 of 13.

Tom Hatcher went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs for FAU on Sunday. William Block had a pair of singles to extend his hit-streak to 13 games. Nick Arata went 6-for-12 (.500 BA) during the series.

Louisiana-Lafayette (6-11; 1-5 SBC) is already two games shy of its conference loss total of 2007. The Cajuns, 45-17 and 23-7 in Sun Belt play a year ago, opened the season ranked as high as 19th nationally by Baseball America.

The two teams exchanged early runs, with Arata initiating the scoring by plating David Wilson on a squeeze play in the bottom of the third inning. ULL's Scott Hawkins hit a homerun to leftfield in the top of the fourth to even the score at one run apiece.

Hatcher responded for FAU in the fifth with a solo-homerun, his third, to put the Owls back in front 2-1. An inning later Hatcher helped the Owls break the game open. His one-out RBI single was part of a four-run FAU frame that extended a tenuous one-run lead to five.

Troy Bubley, a junior from Fort Myers and Daytona Beach College, added an RBI single in the FAU sixth, chasing ULL reliever Justin Robichaux. The Cajuns were forced to use three pitchers to get through the inning.

Brent Solich (0-3), who was unable to get an out in the sixth, allowed seven hits and five runs. He remains winless for ULL in 2008.

Bubley went 5-for-13 (.385 BA) during the course of the week, giving Arata a day off at shortstop on Thursday against Monmouth and making a pair of starts this weekend at third base.

Senior standout Daniel Cook, FAU's starting third baseman, has been temporarily shelved after fouling a ball off his foot in Friday's series-opener.

Nick Criaris and Hatcher hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the seventh off a pair of Cajun relievers to put the game out of reach, 9-1.

Michael Obradovich pitched well, allowing just one run and working into the fifth before freshman Mike Gipson (2-0) came on to cruise through the middle-innings to secure the win.