Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic Faces Middle Tennessee State
3/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 21, 2008
THE WEEKEND SERIES:
Friday 6:30 p.m. in Boca Raton, Fla.
MTSU (RH Brad Robinson 1-1; 5.40 ERA) @ FAU (RH Mickey Storey 1-1; 1.96 ERA)
Saturday 4 p.m. in Boca Raton, Fla.
MTSU (LH Kenneth Roberts 2-1; 4.29 ERA) @ FAU (LH Jeff Beliveau 1-1; 4.71 ERA)
Sunday 1 p.m. in Boca Raton, Fla.
MTSU (TBA) @ FAU (RH Michael Obradovich (0-1; 12.27 ERA)
RADIO/INTERNET: Live audio broadcasts for all three games against Middle Tennessee State will be streamed online on Florida Atlantic's official athletics website (FAUsports.com). Steve Bishop (play-by-play) will call the action. Additionally, live scoring for all FAU home games will be provided via GAMETRACKER on FAUsports.com.
FAU AT A GLANCE: Florida Atlantic (13-6; 3-1 SBC) concludes its current ten-game homestand with a three-game weekend series against Middle Tennessee State this weekend. FAU has won four straight and six-of-seven. The Owls are scoring 9.7 runs per game and will field a lineup this weekend with eight everyday position players hitting above .300.
The Owls are receiving excellent offensive production in key situations. FAU has posted a .364 average this season with men on-base, .320 with runners in scoring position and .462 with the bases loaded. Additionally FAU is driving in nearly four two-out runs per game.
FAU PLAYER NOTES: Senior RF Mike McKenna (.400 BA) is duplicating an outstanding junior season in which he hit .413. No other Sun Belt player has more RBI (33), home runs (9) or total bases (62) this season than McKenna. With runners on third base and less than two outs, McKenna has gone 10-of-14 (.714 BA). He also leads the club with 11 two-out RBI.
2B William Block (.350 BA) leads the league in runs scored (29). The junior preseason All-America honoree owns a 16-game hitting streak. Block has played and started in all FAU games at second base this season and has recently been moved into the leadoff spot in the batting order.
Left-handed hitting catcher Nick Criaris (.385 BA) is red hot, totaling seven hits in his last 13 at-bats (.538 BA). The junior transfer from nearby Broward CC ranks second on the team with a .385 batting average this season.
LF Jeremy Griffiths (.382 BA) and 1B Travis Ozga (.311 BA) are both hitting .429 with runners on base. Senior 3B Daniel Cook is expected to miss extended time due to a foot injury stemming from a foul ball richoceting off his foot in the batter's box last Friday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
RH Mickey Storey (1-1; 1.96 ERA) lowered his season ERA to 1.96 following an outstanding outing last Friday. Storey out-dueled the league's preseason pitcher of the year, Danny Farquhar, to allow Florida Atlantic a win in its series opener and eventually a series win over the Cajuns in Boca Raton. Storey faced just 21 batters in six complete innings, striking-out six and allowing just one earned run. Storey has been essential to an FAU staff that has not used the same weekend rotation in any three weekend series thus far in 2008. Storey has 15 K's in 18 innings this season and 259 K's in 262 innings for his career.
RH Michael Obradovich (0-1; 12.27 ERA) looked sharp last Sunday after taking over a week off. Obradovich, scheduled to start this Sunday against MTSU, scattered four hits in four innings, allowing just one run against ULL last week.
NEXT UP: Florida Atlantic, who is in the midst of a nine-game in ten-day stretch, will be off next Monday-Thursday before playing again at Louisiana-Monroe next weekend, Friday-Sunday, March 28-30.
