Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Baseball Tangles with Miami on Wednesday
3/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Florida Atlantic University baseball team will have their first of four straight road matchups this week on Wednesday night, making the short trip south to Coral Gables to take on Miami at 6 p.m.
The Owls (14-5-1, 3-0 Conference USA) are currently in the midst of their best stretch of the season, winning nine of their last 10, including a sweep in the opening series of the C-USA slate against Middle Tennessee this past weekend. They kept pace with fellow undefeateds Old Dominion (over preseason league favorite Rice) and Southern Miss (against then-ranked Louisiana Tech).
Against Rutgers and MT last week, the Owls' offense batted .308, averaged nearly 10 runs per game (38), and hit seven home runs. Five regulars hit .350 or higher, and seven had four or more RBI. The FAU staff pitched to an ERA of 3.00 with 33 strikeouts in 36 innings, and the bullpen gave up just three earned runs in 11 2/3 innings, with 14 strikeouts against just four walks.
The offense paces C-USA on the season in batting average (.320), hits (220), home runs and HR/game (31 and 1.55), runs and scoring/game (174 and 8.7), on-base and slugging percentage (.435 and .517), and walks (115). Nationally, their highest ranks are OBP (third), hit-by-pitch (fourth, with 36), home runs (sixth), HR per game (seventh), slugging (seventh), runs (eighth), walks (eighth) and scoring (eighth). The team batting average is 15th nationally.
Tyler Frank is batting .376 with team highs in hits (32), doubles (seven), RBI (24) and total bases (54), all out of the leadoff spot. There is now a four-way tie for the team best in home runs between Frank, Gary Mattis, David Miranda and Esteban Puerta, all with five each, and Miranda is the new team leader in average at .383. Mattis is third at .368.
Frank leads C-USA in RBI and is tied for the total base high (54), while ranking as the toughest in the league to strike out (1 for every 14.2 AB). Kevin Abraham is the league leader in OBP (.516) while Miranda is the same in slugging (.733), and Austin Langham has the most walks (19, also 14th in the nation). Eric Rivera paces the conference and is fifth nationally in sacrifice bunts with six, and Cameron Ragsdale has five saves, second in C-USA and 15th in the country. Fellow reliever Drew Peden, with 11 appearances, is in a three-way tie for the conference best in that category, good enough for 23rd in the nation.
Wednesday night's pitching matchup will feature Sean Labsan for FAU, 1-0 with a 5.06 ERA in four games (three starts). The senior lefthander had his longest start and earned his first win of 2017 last Tuesday, pitching five innings of three-hit baseball against Rutgers, allowing just one unearned run and striking out four. For the year, he is averaging 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings.
Labsan will face off against the Hurricanes' Gregory Veliz, who made his first collegiate start ever against the Owls on March 1, pitching four innings, giving up five hits and two runs, with two walks and five strikeouts. Overall, the freshman is 1-1 with a 3.14 ERA, having made two starts since the one in Boca Raton. He has 18 total strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings.
In the previous matchup, a four-run seventh provided the winning runs for Miami in a 5-2 victory. The Owls have won three of the last eight meetings against UM in Coral Gables, including a 4-3 win in the first of two last season, on April 20.
The `Canes (9-11, 3-3 ACC) do not have a regular over the .300 line, with Carl Chester the team leader at .278. He hit his only home run to date in 2017 against FAU. Romy Gonzalez leads with five of the team's 10; he is the only player with more than one. Gonzalez also has the team best with 18 RBI, with Michael Burns' 14 the only other total in double digits. As a squad, UM is batting just .206, and their team ERA is 4.18.
This past weekend, on the road, N.C. State took two of three in an in-conference series. Miami won the getaway game on Sunday, 7-5.
Following the one-game Wednesday matchup, FAU will travel to Birmingham to take on UAB for a weekend set. They return home the following weekend for a home series against Rice. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/fau/EN/link/buy/browse?i%5B0%5D=251.
