Baseball Edges Out Rice, 3-2, in Series Opener

Friday, March 31

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

17-7-1, 0

Rice

8-20, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Rice	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	0
Florida Atlantic	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	4	0

3/31/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 31, 2017

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - An RBI groundout in the fifth inning pushed the Florida Atlantic University baseball team ahead for the first time on Friday, and four scoreless innings by the Owls' bullpen gave them the series-opening win over Rice, 3-2, at FAU Baseball Stadium.

The Turning Point

Rice (8-20, 1-6 Conference USA) loaded the bases with no one out in the first inning, but only scored one run, on a double-play groundout. They added another in the third, with back-to-back doubles, for a 2-0 early lead. But Tyler Frank singled on the first pitch in the home half of the third, and two batters later, Esteban Puerta rocketed a home run to left to tie up the game at 2-2.

The Finish

What turned out to be the game-winning run for FAU (17-7-1, 6-1 C-USA) came without benefit of a hit. Frank was hit by a pitch to lead things off, followed by a walk to Jarrod Shouppe. Puerta moved Frank to third with a flyout to right, and David Miranda scored him with a groundout to second. Four Owl relievers combined for 3 2/3 innings of two-hit scoreless baseball to seal the deal.

Notables

Alex House moved to 4-1 on the season, allowing only five hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings
Drew Peden, Weston Clemente, Kyle Marman and Cameron Ragsdale made up the FAU quartet of relievers that closed it out
Marman was particularly effective, retiring the first five batters he faced, including three on strikeouts. He went two innings in the his longest outing of the season
Ragsdale pitched a perfect ninth on just 13 pitches
Frank reached twice and scored each time
The combined six-hole DH slot of Sean Labsan and Aldrich DeJongh each had a hit. Labsan also walked and DeJongh notched his first career stolen base

Quotable

"That was a great at-bat by David (Miranda)," said Head Coach John McCormack of the game-winning RBI. "I mean, E.P.'s (Puerta's) at-bat was awesome with the home run, but David, in that type of situation, that's just enough. Just put the ball in play, and end up on the right side of a win. That was a really good baseball game, I was really proud of our guys."

What's Next

The two Owl squads meet up again on Saturday for a 4 p.m. first pitch. Marc Stewart will toe the rubber for FAU vs. Rice's Zach Esquivel.