Big Eighth Gives Baseball Series-Opening Win

Friday, March 10

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

9-4-1

Toledo

1-13

Toledo

Florida Atlantic

3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 10, 2017

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Seven runs in the eighth inning, on the strength of two home runs including a grand slam, broke open a tie game and gave the Florida Atlantic University baseball team their fourth straight win, 10-3 over Toledo on Friday night at FAU Baseball stadium.

The Turning Point

The Owls (9-4-1) had been held to just five hits by Toledo (1-13) starter Steven Calhoun, and it was a 3-3 game after the Rockets plated one on a sacrifice fly in the seventh. But against Toledo relief pitching, Eric Rivera led off the home eighth with an infield single. He was balked to second and David Miranda knocked him in with a hit to center for the lead. Gary Mattis then added on with his third home run in three games, a two-run shot that snuck over the leftfield fence, making it 6-3.

The Finish

The Owls weren't done in the frame. The next batter, Sean Labsan, was hit by a pitch, and moved to second on a wild pitch. Austin Langham then walked, and after a call to the bullpen, Kevin Abraham was also hit to load the bases, all without a basehit. One out later, Tyler Frank cranked a shot deep to left for a grand slam, and put FAU in double digits for the fourth straight game. Blake Sanderson finished it up on the mound with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Notables

Mattis went 2-for-3 with three RBI. He now has a nine-game hitting streak, during which he is batting .576, with all four of his home runs on the season and 15 of his 17 RBI
Rivera led the team Friday night with three hits in four at-bats and scored twice
All nine FAU starters scored at least a run
Alex House had a quality start, giving up just two runs in six innings
The Owls' relief corps - Mark Nowatnick, Weston Clemente, Drew Peden and Sanderson - kept up their recent success, giving up just one unearned run on three hits in three innings, and four strikeouts
Two of those punchouts, in 2/3 of an inning to wrap up the eighth, were by winning pitcher Peden (2-0)

Quotable

"The at-bat of the night was (David) Miranda," said Head Coach John McCormack. "That was a tough left-on-left, that guy (Michael Jacob) had pitched nine innings and struck out 14 guys, (and) we had gotten a report that he had a really good breaking ball. (For) David, that was a really good piece of hitting."

What's Next

Game two of the series, live again on www.FAUSports.TV, will start at 4 p.m. Saturday (with pregame at 3:50). Jake Miednik will start for the Owls against Toledo's Ross Achter.

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Box Score Recap History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Peden, Drew (2-0)

L: JACOB, Michael (0-1)

Toledo

Batting:

RBI: HANSEN, Matt 1 ; RYAN, Michael 1 ; BOSS, Brad 1

SH: BOSS, Brad 1

SF: HANSEN, Matt 1

Base Running:

RUNS: MONTOYA, AJ 1 ; BETTINGER, Malave 1 ; RYAN, Michael 1

SB: MONTOYA, AJ 1 ; BETTINGER, Malave 1

HBP: MONTOYA, AJ 1

Florida Atlantic

Batting:

2B: Abraham, Kevin 1 ; DeJongh, Aldrich 1

HR: Frank, Tyler 1 ; Mattis, Gary 1

RBI: Frank, Tyler 4 ; Rivera, Eric 1 ; Miranda, David 1 ; Mattis, Gary 3

SH: DeJongh, Aldrich 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Frank, Tyler 1 ; Rivera, Eric 2 ; Puerta, Esteban 1 ; Miranda, David 1 ; Mattis, Gary 1 ; Labsan, Sean 1 ; Langham, Austin 1 ; Abraham, Kevin 1 ; DeJongh, Aldrich 1