No. 18 Owls Sweep Twinbill Versus UAB

Friday, March 25

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:50 PM

Florida Atlantic

17-4, 4-1

UAB

9-14, 2-3

UAB

Florida Atlantic

3/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

March 25, 2016

Final Stats

BOCA RATON, Fla. â€" Fierce weather couldn't put a damper on the Florida Atlantic University baseball team's Conference USA home-opening series as the No. 18 Owls won both games of a doubleheader on Friday 5-3 and 7-3 against UAB.

The Owls (17-4, 4-1 C-USA) tallied 17 hits and drew 17 walks on the day to re-take first place in the C-USA standings and improve to 11-2 at home.

"It's never easy to win a doubleheader," FAU Head Coach John McCormack said. "I thought our guys responded and did what they needed to do to win."

CJ Chatham went .500 on the day with a double, triple, two RBI and a run while Stephen Kerr recorded three RBI, three walks and three runs. Sean Labsan, Esteban Puerta and Christian Dicks also had multiple hits while Austin Langham drew three walks. FAU drew three bases-loaded, RBI walks over the two contests.

Kerr led off the first game with a walk to reach as the lead-off batter for the fifth consecutive game. After stealing two bases, the junior came in to score on a groundout by Dicks to give FAU an early advantage.

UAB responded with a pair of runs on three hits in the second to go up 2-1, a lead the Blazers would hold until the fourth.

Puerta, Labsan and Langham each singled to lead off the fourth, setting up freshman Tyler Frank for a bases-loaded, RBI walk to tie the game. Kerr then hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Langham, giving the Owls a 3-2 lead.

Chatham and Dicks each hit singles to the pitcher to lead off the seventh inning before Labsan belted an RBI single to right to increase the lead to 4-2.

After UAB put a run on the board in the top of the eighth, Kerr, Lashley and Chatham hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases once more. Dicks then drew a five-pitch, RBI walk to plate Kerr, increasing the lead to the final 5-3. After a 2 hour, 16-minute weather delay, Cameron Ragsdale came in to close out the game, earning his sixth save of the season.

Brandon Rhodes earned the win, dealing seven innings with two strikeouts and two runs allowed.

FAU struck in the first inning again in game two as Brett Lashley was hit by a pitch and worked his way around to score on an RBI single by Esteban Puerta. Again UAB responded in the bottom of the frame, tying the game on a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.

Sophomore Gunnar Lambert led off the second inning with his first career home run, a no-doubter to right, to put the Owls back on top 2-1.

UAB took its first lead of game two in the top of the fourth with two runs on three hits to lead 3-2. Langham and Lambert drew back-to-back walks to lead off the bottom of the inning before Kerr laced an RBI single to left to tie the contest at 3-3.

An error allowed Labsan to reach second to lead off the sixth inning before FAU drew three consecutive walks, including an RBI walk by Jose Bonilla Traverso to break the tie. Another Kerr sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Chatham gave the Owls the offensive spark it needed to rally for three runs in the inning to lead 6-3.

Kerr led off the eighth with FAU's ninth walk of game two and came in to score on an RBI triple by Chatham to give FAU a four run cushion before Robbie Coursel closed out the game by retiring the side in the ninth to give FAU its ninth consecutive series victory.

Coursel dealt five shutout innings in the game, striking out five while allowing just one hit.

The Owls will go for the sweep with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, March 26. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit FAUSports.com.