Baseball Topped No. 11 Mississippi State

Friday, February 19

Starkville, Miss.

5:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

2-0

Mississippi State

0-1

Florida Atlantic

Mississippi State

2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 19, 2016

Final Stats

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Eight Florida Atlantic University's runs were plated in the top of the seventh in the Owls 10-6 victory over No. 11 Mississippi State on Friday night.

On the day, FAU outscored its two opponents (MSU and South Dakota State) 21-11 and the Owls defense made no mistakes while the pitching staff scattered 25 hits in the Mississippi State Tournament.

"I'm proud of the guys. That's a long day with a double header on opening day. We stayed locked in and focused for 18 innings," said Jason Jackson, FAU's assistant coach, who managed the game while Head Coach John McCormack continues to recover from his battle with cancer. "You can't say enough about the guys. I thought we did a great job all day long swinging the bat and playing defense, especially with runners in scoring position. The pitchers did a good job throwing strikes, they forced the action and we played great defense behind them."

FAU, 2-0, jumped on the board with two runs in the first before MSU's starter Dakota Hudson settled in to hold the Owls scoreless through the next four innings. Hudson was retired by Kale Breaux, who pitched a scoreless sixth but gave up three earned run on just one hit in the seventh. The Owls sent 12 batters to the plate in the seventh and came away with eight runs. MSU, 0-1, used a total of four pitchers in the inning, seven in the game.

Meanwhile, FAU senior starter Brandon Rhodes picked up the win after six innings of work. The lefty scattered 10 hits and faced 28 batters. Rhodes was relieved in the seventh by Alex House who saw 1.2 innings of work, gave up five hits and three runs. Senior captain Devon Carr got the Owls out of an eighth inning jam and newcomer Cameron Ragsdale pitched the ninth, allowing two hits and a run to score.

CJ Chatham had three hits, 3-for-4. Billy Endris was 2-for-4 and Esteban Puerta was 3-for-5 with three RBI. The junior first baseman had a monster day going 7-for-11 with eight RBI, a homer and two doubles. DH Sean Labsan added a double versus MSU to give him three on the day.

The two teams will be back in action, 5:30 p.m. est on Saturday, Feb. 20. The game will air on ESPN3 and live stats are available at fausports.com.

FAU will wrap up the tournament on at 11:30 a.m. est on Sunday, Feb. 21 versus South Dakota State.

The Owls will open its home season 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26 versus LIU Brooklyn. For tickets call 1-866-FAU-Owls. To follow the game, via game tracker, log onto fausports.com.