Baseball Trounces Rutgers on Tuesday, 14-2

Tuesday, March 14

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

11-5-1

Rutgers

6-10

Rutgers

Florida Atlantic

3/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 14, 2017

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Florida Atlantic University baseball team scored runs in five straight innings and held Rutgers to four hits in a Tuesday night rout at FAU Baseball Stadium, 14-2.

The Turning Point

Rutgers (6-10) plated a run on a sacrifice fly to knot the game up at 2-2 in the top of the fourth. But FAU (11-5-1) answered with the same, by Pedro Pages, in the home half of the same inning, and sent 11 batters to the plate for a five-spot in the fifth to blow the game open.

The Finish

The Owls' sixth was nearly as good, a four-run inning, and a David Miranda two-run home run in the seventh made for the final score. Meanwhile, the FAU bullpen gave up just one hit over four innings of work, striking out seven of 12 possible outs and zero runs.

Notables

Pages' sac fly came in between a two-run home run to start the FAU scoring in the third and a two-run double in the sixth, the only hit in a four-run frame. His five RBI set a new career high
Gary Mattis had three RBI, including a two-run single in the fifth
Esteban Puerta had a team-best three hits, singles in the fourth, fifth and seventh
The Owls' 2-6 hitters each scored two runs: Eric Rivera, Miranda, Kevin Abraham, Puerta, Austin Langham and Mattis
Leadoff batter Tyler Frank reached on three walks and a hit-by-pitch
Owls' batters drew eight bases-on-balls and took three HBP, with their 14 runs coming on just 11 hits
Starting pitcher Sean Labsan (1-0) picked up his first win of the year, allowing just three hits and one earned run in five innings of work, striking out four
In back-to-back perfect frames, Kyle Marman struck out two of the three batters he faced in an eight-pitch sixth, and Mark Nowatnick had a 1-2-3 seventh, with all three batters set down on strikeouts
Nick Prather and Mike Ruff ended it with scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth and allowed just two combined runners
Tuesday marked the sixth time in seven games FAU has scored 10 or more, and ninth such performance this season

Quotable

"When you play on Sunday, regardless of the outcome, then you have the off-day Monday, you just never know how the guys are going to come out," said Head Coach John McCormack. "The guys did what they needed to do. We took our walks, got a couple of hit by pitches and ended up driving in some runs. It was a good night all around."

What's Next

The Owls' 2017 Conference USA opener is this Friday night, the first of three against Middle Tennessee. Game time is 6:30 p.m., with pregame at 6:20 on www.FAUSports.TV.