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12 p.m.
Baseball
vs. Charlotte
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Thursday, May 21
Troy, Ala.
10:00 AM
Florida Atlantic
30-25
16
vs
6
FIU
34-23
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIU | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| Florida Atlantic | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 0 |
Florida Atlantic Rips FIU, Advance at SBCs
5/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 21, 2009
Final Stats | Action Photos 
| Updated Bracket PDF 
TROY, AL - What a difference a day makes. Florida Atlantic University bounced back from a lopsided loss to top-seeded Middle Tennessee State University Wednesday to rout its rival FIU, 16-6. The Owls 10-runned the Golden Panthers in eight innings to knock FIU out of the 2009 Sun Belt Conference postseason tournament.
Jeremy Griffiths went 3-for-5 with five RBI to help FAU build a 12-3 lead after five innings. Griffiths hit an RBI-single in the first, homered in the second and doubled in the fourth.
"For the first time this season I feel like my swing is where it needs to be to help this team," said Griffiths who has broken out of a slump to go 17-for-39 (.436 BA) with four homers and 14 RBI in FAU's last nine games. "We were not going to sit back and dwell on yesterday."
The do-or-die victory puts eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic (30-25) into Friday morning's quarterfinal round. The Owls must win twice Friday to position itself to play in Saturday's title game.
"Any conference tournament is going to be a rollercoaster of emotions," said FAU head coach John McCormack. "I told the guys after yesterday's loss we still had to win four games regardless. Our margin of error is now smaller."
FAU will next play Friday morning at 9 a.m. CT time in a rematch with Middle Tennessee State. MTSU lost to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette 5-4 in Thursday's afternoon game.
Mike Gipson (4-5) went all eight innings for FAU, allowing six runs on seven hits. Gipson had plunked three batters in the early stages but settled-in to allow just three hits through six innings. FIU avoided being 10-runned in the seventh by striking for two runs on back-to-back solo homers by Raiko Alfonso and Pablo Bermudez.
Gipson struck out seven and won his second straight postseason start. Gipson won an elimination game as a true freshman last season at the 2008 SBC tournament in Lafayette, La.
"Mike (Gipson) was huge for us," said McCormack. "You can not say enough about what he did today. He only walked one. We were thinking about taking him out in the eighth but he got through it and then Travis (Ozga) ended it."
Travis Ozga's two-run homer in the eighth off Corey Palizzano gave FAU the walk-off victory. Its the third time in six tournament games thus far at Troy that the 10-run rule has been put into effect.
Tom Ebert, who made the start for FIU (34-23), threw strikes, fanning seven in three innings. But FAU touched him up for eight hits, scoring six times in the fourth to break-open a 4-3 game.
Griffiths - who hit a two-run homer off Ebert in the second inning - ripped an RBI-double off him during FAU's six-run fourth, with Ozga adding a 2-RBI triple down the right-field line.
With Ebert gone, FAU continued to pour on the offense. Nick DelGuidice drove in Ozga with a two-run opposite-field homer off Eric Berkowitz and Sean Bukovich and Anthony Mesa followed with line-drive singles. After 10 FAU batters, three extra-base hits and six runs off Ebert and Berkowitz in the fourth the Owls had assumed a comfortable 10-3 lead.
GAME NOTES: The two South Florida rivals were playing for the fourth time in eight days... A light rain and mist began to fall in the top of the fourth inning and returned in the sixth... Jeremy Griffiths' second-inning homer was his fourth in the last five games... FAU continues to play without senior's C Nick Criaris (strained oblique) and 2B William Block (eligibility)... Tom Hatcher hit his team-leading 18th double... The FAU offense totaled 18 hits and its defense played error-free... FAU's 16 runs matched a season-high... The Owls reach the 30-win plateau for the 11th-consecutive season.
- Nick Mirkovich (FAU Media Relations)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gipson, Mike (4-5)
L: Ebert (6-5)
Batting:
HR: Mollica 1 ; Stropp 1 ; Alfonso 1 ; Bermudez 1
RBI: Mollica 1 ; Stropp 1 ; Alfonso 1 ; Bermudez 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Mollica 1 ; Stropp 2 ; Martinez 1 ; Alfonso 1 ; Bermudez 1
HBP: Stropp 1 ; Martinez 1 ; Alfonso 1
Batting:
2B: Griffiths, Jeremy 1 ; Hatcher, Tom 2 ; Bukovich, Sean 1
3B: Ozga, Travis 1
HR: Griffiths, Jeremy 1 ; Ozga, Travis 1 ; DelGuidice, Nick 1
RBI: Wilson, David 1 ; Griffiths, Jeremy 5 ; Ozga, Travis 4 ; DelGuidice, Nick 2 ; Bukovich, Sean 2 ; Mesa, Anthony 1
SH: Albaladejo, Mike 1
SF: Griffiths, Jeremy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wilson, David 3 ; Albaladejo, Mike 1 ; Griffiths, Jeremy 3 ; Hatcher, Tom 3 ; Ozga, Travis 2 ; DelGuidice, Nick 1 ; Bukovich, Sean 2 ; Mesa, Anthony 1
SB: Wilson, David 1 ; Mesa, Anthony 1
Game Leaders
AB
6
R
3
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
3
H
3
RBI
5
AB
5
R
3
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballLeroux Backhand Stop
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