Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
Troy
Florida Atlantic's Offense Overwhelms Troy
4/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2008
BOCA RATON, FL - The Sun Belt Conference `Sunday mercy rule' put an end to the series finale between Florida Atlantic University and Troy University this afternoon. FAU's 17 runs forced the two teams to exchange early handshakes, as the Owls were leading by more than nine after six innings of play.
Florida Atlantic (21-12; 10-6 SBC) posted eight consecutive two-out hits during an eight-run fourth inning and Travis Ozga and Nick Criaris each hit three-run homers in the fifth as FAU routed Troy (21-15; 10-5 SBC) by a final score of 17-6.
Nick Arata went 2-for-4, homered, stole a base and had three RBI Sunday. He was 10-for-17 (.588 BA) in four games this week raising his season average to .409.
In his first weekend start Troy's Jeff Green (0-3) cruised through the first nine FAU batters he faced, keeping the Owls hitless and off the scoreboard in the first two innings, but was knocked around his second time through the lineup.
Arata led off the bottom of the third against Green with a solo home run off the batter's eye in centerfield to put FAU in front 1-0. Arata's full count, two-RBI single with two out in the fourth began what would turn into FAU's longest two-out rally of the season, ending Green's outing in favor of freshman right-hander Drew Hull.
Hull proceded to allow six consecutive hits, surrendering singles to Jeremy Griffiths, Mike McKenna and Travis Ozga before William Block drove in three runs with his fourth homer of the season, a deep drive out to left-centerfield.
David Wilson's RBI double to right capped off the rally, putting FAU up 9-2. The Owls had entered the inning trailing 2-1.
Punctuating the rout, Ozga and Criaris had three-run home runs in the sixth. Each of the first six batters in the FAU order had multiple hits. Left-handed starter Jeff Beliveau (3-2) won his second straight start, throwing three shutout frames to begin the game before leaving with a comfortable lead in the sixth.
FAU will host No. 1 Miami at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton.
NOTES: Florida Atlantic (21-12) takes the three-game series with Troy 2-1, its first series win over the Trojans since 2004... The Owls are now 5-1 in head-to-head series against Sun Belt Conference opponents in 2008... FAU improves to 17-6 at home... FAU had 50 hits in four games last week and four different players hit over .400...The pitching staff posted a collective ERA of 3.97... 2B William Block went 8-for-17 (.471 BA), driving in a team-high six RBI and hitting three homers... SS Nick Arata was 10-of-17 (.588 BA) on the week with two homers, including a walk-off job that allowed FAU a 6-5 series opening win against Troy Friday... LF Jeremy Griffiths was 7-of-14 (.500 BA)... FAU has 100 two-out RBI this season (3.03 per game)... OF Mike McKenna (.400 BA) leads the team with 18, 1B Travis Ozga (.360 BA) has 17 and OF David Wilson (.262 BA) 12... After its game with No. 1 Miami Wednesday the Owls will play a four-game non-conference series at New York IT in Long Island next weekend.
