Mee's Big Night Powers Baseball over Hofstra

Saturday, February 19

Boca Raton, Fla.

4:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

2-0

Hofstra

0-2

Hofstra

Florida Atlantic

2/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 19, 2011

Final Stats

Boca Raton, Fla. - Senior outfielder Andy Mee continues to showcase why he was a preseason All-American candidate, having a 4-for-5 hitting performance with three runs batted in to carry the Florida Atlantic University baseball team to a 10-5 win over Hofstra University on Saturday evening at the FAU Baseball Stadium.

The nationally ranked Owls improve to 2-0 on the season and will look for their first 3-0 start since the 2007 season when they wrap up the three-game weekend series on Sunday, starting at 1 p.m.

FAU broke open a 5-5 game in the bottom of the seventh inning with designated hitter Eddie Cassidy's bases-loaded single to left field pushing across Raymond Church and Andy Mee. The team added three more runs in the frame, capped by a line drive single by junior catcher Mike Albaladejo that scored Corey Keller and Nick DelGuidice.

"We have a lot of seniors that have played a lot of college baseball. So, we did not panic when they tied the game," said John McCormack, FAU's head baseball coach. "We put good at-bats together and finally got to their relief staff."

FAU jumped on top of the visit Pride with a four-run first inning runs, helped by two throwing errors. Mee laced a two-run double to left-center field to score senior center fielder Colby Gratton and Church. Mee would later score on one of Hofstra's throwing errors following a grounder hit by Mark Nelson.

The Owls grabbed a 5-2 lead in the second inning as Mee singled home Church. The feisty Hofstra team came back to tie the game, 5-5, in the sixth inning with a RBI double by Jared Hammer. Joe Perez paced the team's offensive attack with four hits while Danny Poma had another strong game from the leadoff spot with two hits and a run scored.

Besides Mees' strong offensive game, Church had two base hits and scored three runs. Delguidice had his sixth RBI of the series with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. He's now hitting .750 after having six hits in eight at-bats in the first two games of the season. Gratton also had multiple hits while Albaladejo reached base in all four plate appearances in Saturday's game.

Owls' starting pitcher R.J. Alvarez did not factor in the decision but had four strikeouts on the afternoon. Junior Paul Davis got the win with three quality innings in relief as the bullpen picked up its second win of the season. Davis had two strikeouts in his first career appearance. Fellow junior Mike Ruccio tossed a scoreless ninth inning.

Live audio and statistics for Sunday's series finale will be available at www.fausports.com. Season and individual tickets for all home games are on sale by calling the FAU Ticket Office at 1-888-FAU-OWLS.